Dr. Upendra N. Singh

Dr. Upendra N. Singh is an internationally recognized atmospheric scientist and laser remote sensing expert with 30 years’ experience as a Researcher with University, Chief Scientist with industry, and high-performing Civil Servant at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). Currently, he serves as an Associate Director for Sensor Systems at Engineering Directorate at LaRC. During 2001-2013, he served as the Chief Technologist at the Engineering Directorate (ED) providing technical leadership to more than 350 highly qualified professionals in the area of science, aeronautics and exploration. Dr. Singh also served as the Principal Investigator of the $80 M multi-Center NASA Laser Risk Reduction Program (LRRP), which he envisioned, formulated and implemented during 2002-2010. He conceived and developed new ideas for active remote sensing technologies and techniques for NASA space-based remote sensing, and pioneered the development of world-record energy 2-micron solid-state laser for 3-D global wind measurement from space. His LRRP program has led the way to a significant reduction in risk for lasers in space for global remote sensing using lidars. He is currently serving as Principal Investigator of two Earth Science Technology Office funded programs to enable space-based measurements of Carbon Dioxide and 3-D Winds. He has chaired more than thirty international conferences, and has authored/co-authored over 300 articles in atmospheric sciences and remote sensing area.

Dr. Singh has received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2001), NASA Langley’s H.J.E. Reid Award for co-authoring an outstanding paper (2005), NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal (2006) and NASA Group Achievement Awards (2010, 2012, 2013) . He served on the Board of Director for the SPIE during 2009-11 and is the Associate Editor for SPIE Journal of Applied Remote Sensing.. He is an elected fellow of the SPIE (2003) and the OSA (2011) and a Senior Member of IEEE.