Banquet Speaker

After our fine dinner, but before our traditional prize table, we will hear from our banquet speaker.

This year, it is Dr. Dave Kunkee, K0DI

Born and raised in Lincoln NE, Dave attended the University of Nebraska graduating in 1984 with a BS in Electrical engineering. His first employment was with AT&T Holmdel NJ where completed his Masters in 1990. He then attended Georgia Tech (Atlanta) to pursue his PHD in Microwave remote Sensing and completed it in 1995 before joining the Aerospace Corporation (El Segundo, CA).  At Aerospace, he has held various positions such as Associate Director of the Radar and Signal Systems Department and led the Aerospace Microwave Sensors and Data Products Department within the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Integrated Program Office. (NPOESS-IPO) Dave has been a Senior Project Leader in the Sensor Systems Subdivision of the Environmental Satellite Systems Division as part of the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) and Weather System Follow-on (WSF) program offices. Outside of the company, Dave has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (GRSS) Newsletter and a Guest Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, and the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. He has held the position of General Co-Chair for the 2017 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) and the Co-Chair for the Technical Program Committee for the 2010 and 2023 IGARSS. He is also a past Chair of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Technical Committee on Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing. Dave has also served as Vice President and President of the Professional Activities for the (GRSS) and is still is activity employed in technical management at the Aerospace Corporation.

Being mentored by his father and first licensed as a novice in 1973, Dave’s amateur radio adventure has taken him all over the country and the world. Being involved in radio sport with the locals in Lincoln during his early school years and continuing with various contests as a single and multi-op experiencing 10 band VHF/UHF and Microwave, and wining HF contests, Dave has accumulated a wide knowledge base that he can share concerning different aspects of his professional and amateur radio life and how they relate.  Then, most importantly as Dave’s actively pursued his career, he and his wife Elisabeth (whom he met while at Georgia Tech) have raised their Son and Daughter now into college age and will soon be working on their careers.  Let’s welcome, sit back listen and enjoy his banquette presentation!