Speakers Bio & Abstract

BiographyAs Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of DigitalGlobe, Dr. Scott oversees the development of space systems, R&D, and DigitalGlobe’s Platform and Services Business Units.
Dr. Scott founded DigitalGlobe in 1992 as WorldView Imaging Corporation, which was the first company to receive a high resolution commercial remote sensing license from the U.S. Government (in 1993), under the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act. WorldView became EarthWatch Incorporated in 1995. Dr. Scott managed the development of all of the company’s commercial remote sensing satellites. He secured the first-ever export license for launch of U.S.-manufactured imaging spacecraft on Russian launch vehicles (Start-1 and Cosmos). The company became DigitalGlobe in 2001, and with the launch of the QuickBird-2 satellite that year, offered the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery. Today, DigitalGlobe operates a 5-satellite imaging constellation with the best revisit and greatest capacity in the industry.
From 1986 through 1992, Dr. Scott was with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He began as Project Leader for Computer Aided Design Tools for the Laser Pantography Program, developing tools to aid in the design of wafer scale integrated circuits manufactured. In 1987, he joined a small team developing a concept for a highly distributed constellation of space based interceptors for the Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Brilliant Pebbles.” In late 1987, Dr. Scott became Program Leader for this effort, responsible for creating a series of hardware prototypes and conducting flight experiments. During 1989, Dr. Scott led the program successfully through over 20 reviews of technical feasibility, system performance, military operability, and estimated cost, resulting in the adoption of Brilliant Pebbles for SDIO’s space segment in 1990. In late 1991, Dr. Scott was Assistant Associate Director of the Physics Department and was responsible for development of new space-related programs and identification of promising technologies.
Prior to joining LLNL, Dr. Scott founded and served as president of Scott Consulting, a UNIX systems and applications consulting firm. He developed Unix networking subsystems, and a pioneering email system that used public key encryption for message protection.
Dr. Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and a Doctorate and Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a visiting student for a year at Edinburgh University in Scotland.
Dr. Scott was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2004 for the Rocky Mountain Region in the Emerging Technology category.
He previously served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (CESAS) and is currently member of the board of directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).