Glen Gustafson, PhD.

and the

Environmental Image Group, Inc.

Born in 1942, Dr. Glen Gustafson, Environmental Image Group's founder, has had over fifty years experience in the field of aerial photo interpretation. In 1962, at the age of twenty, he interrupted his college education at Claremont McKenna College to go into the US Air Force, where he was trained as an Aerial Photo Interpreter. The excitement of this experience—beginning with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of that year—determined Glen’s direction from that time forward. Later, he was stationed in Texas at a Strategic Air Command bomber and missile base and in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Following his military service, Glen completed his education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Physical Geography and Geology (Minor), followed by four years of graduate school, completing a Master of Science in geomorphological mapping from aerial photography from the International Institute for Aerial Survey and Earth Sciences (Delft) and a PhD in quantitative analysis of landforms from aerial imagery from LMU München. He became a college teacher of Geography, first in New York, then at James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. His specialty, as a result of the stimulating Air Force experience, has remained aerial photo analysis, remote sensing, and mapping. He did consulting work initially for the Department of Defense and then primarily, for a variety of industrial, environmental litigation clients for whom he has acted as a historical researcher and Expert Witness. He's also authored many research papers on his work in aerial photography, including a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in 2019.

Glen's contributions to his community extend beyond his professional endeavors. He actively supports his church in Avalon and the local food bank, where he helps feed the homeless. He has Volunteer Awards through the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which serve as a testament to his commitment to community service.

EIG came into being about 1983. At the time, the company was involved in several different aerial imagery applications, primarily in the field of Military Photo Reconnaissance Exploitation. The latter term here is putting the emphasis on the interpretation and use of the imagery, rather than how to capture it. Over the next few years, the business expanded, but more into the realm of historical, environmental analysis of industrial sites. There was enough demand to justify hiring five additional, part-time Analysts to handle the volume of the work. In general, these people were former University students of Glen's, and/or former employees within the EPA Image Exploitation laboratories. This pattern of hiring part-time specialists when needed has continued up to the present day; therefore the name, Environmental Image Group.

In Fall 2005 Glen retired as Professor Emeritus from James Madison University and became a full-time Catalina Island, CA resident, from where he continues to operate EIG Inc.

EIG was incorporated as a C Corporation in 2015.

Glen's professional achievements have not gone unnoticed. He has been recognized with a series of awards for map design through the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. However, he takes the most pride in reshaping the geography programs at the City University of New York’s Herbert Lehman College and James Madison University, and in recruiting colleagues with GIS experience to enhance the department’s capabilities.

On December 19, 2024, Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles, was proud to present Glen Gustafson with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Most recently, Glen and Environmental Image Group were the subject of an article in Environmental Evidence from the Sky: Inside Glen Gustafson’s Aerial Interpretation Work

Dr. Glen Gustafson