Increasing shared understanding of our world through community-led initiatives that make data easier to access and use.
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.
Michelle Roby
Developer Advocate
Michelle uses her passion for community building, education, and communication in her role as Developer Advocate at Radiant Earth. In this position, she strives to empower the geospatial community by providing valuable resources, fostering collaboration, and promoting innovative technologies. Michelle loves discovering and building meaningful connections, both among individuals and between organizations. She believes we are stronger and more productive when we join forces and work together. She received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Spanish Language & Literature and a GIS & Computational Science Certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019. Since her graduation, she has continued to live in Boulder, with the exception of one year living in the Mexico City area. She dreams of mexican corn tortillas every night.
Jed Sundwall
Executive Director
Jed has spent his career working at the intersection of data, product development, cloud computing, economics, and policy. 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 is a lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, a technical fellow at the Taylor Geospatial Engine, and is a technical advisor to Flickr Foundation, PLACE, and the Center for Open Data Enterprise. A proud student of the humanities, he uses his “spare time” to produce Techs on Texts, a podcast about the intersection of literature and technology. He is fluent in Spanish, pretty good at Portuguese, and can passably order food in German.
Our board
Jessica Seddon
Senior Fellow
Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
Amy Pitelka
Board Secretary
Partner
Barker Pitelka PLLC
Mala Kumar
Board Treasurer
Director of Program Management, AI Safety
ML Commons