Welcoming Dr. Tarek Kandakji to YCEO

February 3, 2022

The YCEO is pleased to welcome Dr. Tarek Kandakji as Remote Sensing Specialist and Manager, replacing Dr. Natalie Schultz, who departed in December after over 3 years of excellent service. Tarek’s main role is to manage the Yale Center for Earth Observation and support university-wide teaching and research on environmental remote sensing. Moreover, Tarek will participate in university-wide geospatial activities, including In-person and virtual consultations for remote sensing and GIS inquiries, online resources (software guides, data access, techniques, methoologies), and Yale GIS Day.

Tarek holds a PhD in Geosciences from Texas Tech University, as well as two masters degrees. His main research activities and publications are in the field of environmental remote sensing and spatio-temporal analysis. His PhD dissertation was on identification and spatio-temporal analysis of dust point sources in the southwestern United States using remote sensing, and applying robotics in wind erosion studies.

Tarek has been conducting multi-disciplinary research in national and international organizations for many years.  Over more than a decade of both academic and non-academic research, he has worked at and collaborated with many NGOs (e.g. ICARDA and FAO), IGOs (e.g. USAID and NATO), government agencies (e.g. USDA and NASA), and universities in Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S.

When he’s not working, Tarek enjoys reading and spending time with his family, including learning violin from his 7 year old daughter.

Tarek can be reached via email at tarek.kandakji@yale.edu.