Wilbert Skinner

Background

About Wilbert Skinner

I have end-to-end and bottom-to-top experience with optical remote sensing instrumentation used to probe the atmosphere. I have worked with ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite-based instruments including both passive and active (lidar) systems. My involvement has extended from conceptual design and instrument performance simulation to assembly and calibration of an instrument to design and development of processing software to analysis and publication of results. My responsibilities have ranged from instrument scientist to project manager to principal investigator. Some of my key accomplishments: • I have been the Principal Investigator of two satellite instruments: High Resolution Doppler Imager and TIMED Doppler Imager (TIMED =Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics). Both instruments measured upper atmosphere winds and other quantities from low Earth orbit. • I have managed teams of scientists, engineers, programmers, and students working on projects as small as $10K to as large as $2M/yr. • I have designed, implemented, and documented numerous procedures to test and calibrate optical instruments to perform atmospheric remote sensing. One of my most gratifying accomplishments was to remotely diagnose a serious failure in a flight instrument and lead the effort to restore full capability. • I have developed computer models to estimate the performance of remote sensing instruments in remote sensing applications. • I have designed, written, and tested code to process satellite data. • I have been extensively involved with the analysis of satellite data to understand the upper atmosphere. I have been particularly interested in the long term variation of upper atmosphere. • I am the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed papers, 30 conference and proceeding (non-referred) papers and 200 oral papers or posters presented at scientific meetings. I have participated in numerous meetings with sponsors and technical colleagues.