About Radiant Earth

Radiant Earth works to expand access to geospatial data and machine learning models that can be used to address the impacts of climate change and support conservation efforts.

The future of our species depends on our ability to develop sustainable methods of sharing data with one another. Shared access to data allows humans to develop a fact-based and shared understanding of our world, which is necessary for us to collaboratively address global challenges. Expanding access to data about our planet is necessary to empower more people to perform scientific research, reduce the cost of research and product development, enable reproducibility of research, and foster collaboration among institutions.

Our vision is a world in which shared data is used to improve decision making at all levels of society.

Please visit our homepage and blog to learn more about our current initiatives.

Our team

Kevin Booth

Director of Engineering

Kevin is the Director of Engineering at Radiant Earth, where he leads the organization's engineering efforts. Prior to joining Radiant Earth, Kevin taught students GIS and Geoprogramming and developed software for NASA's Orion Spacecraft program. He has also worked on developing Android applications for Fortune 100 companies. Kevin is an avid skydiver with hundreds of jumps to his name and enjoys photography in his free time.

Louisa Nakanuku-Diggs

Director of Operations

Louisa is enthusiastic about storytelling and visualization and their possibilities to transform complex topics into simple, yet engaging and effective narratives. Louisa has helped governments, development organizations and NGOs focusing on environmental issues in Africa with approaches to convert data to information, and information to knowledge and attitudinal changes. Before joining Radiant Earth, she served as an international communication consultant, working with conservation organizations to develop behavior change strategies, incorporating digital communications channels, and generating science information products for laypersons.

Daniel Nwaeze

Machine Learning Engineer

Daniel is passionate about helping organizations uncover and develop data patterns, allowing them to make better decisions. He has previously worked with Humanity Data Systems, developing machine learning models responsible for capturing operational data to monitor aid delivery for the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Fund (YRRF) to enhancing performance. Daniel has also led a team of tutors at Efico Resources, where he advised and mentored West African students on state-of-the-art data science tools for analysis.

Michelle Roby

Geospatial Software Engineer

Michelle is a passionate individual with a drive to provide quality open Earth observation data and machine learning models to aid those working to address environmental and global development challenges. She is particularly enthusiastic about agricultural efficiency, soil health, and how these topics relate to each other and to combating climate change. Michelle received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Spanish Language & Literature and a Geographical Information Systems & Computational Science Certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. After her graduation, she volunteered in Morelos, Mexico, on a team that implemented ecological WASH projects in rural communities. Before joining Radiant Earth, Michelle worked at Ocean Imaging, mapping ocean and coastal habitats for partners such as The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Navy, and The City of San Diego.

Jed Sundwall

Executive Director

Jed has over 15 years of experience at the intersection of data, product development, cloud computing, economics, and policy. Before joining Radiant Earth, he created data sharing and sustainability initiatives at Amazon, including the AWS Open Data Program which hosts over 100 petabytes of open access data. He has helped create data sharing best practices that have been adopted worldwide by NASA, USGS, Google, Microsoft and other institutions around the world. He serves on NatureServe's Board of Directors and has a master's degree in foreign policy from UCSD. He is fluent in Spanish, pretty good at Portuguese, and can passably order food in German.