Faculty and Staff
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Curtis Edson Lecturer
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Dr. Curtis Edson is a Lecturer in the BioResource and Agriculture Engineering (BRAE)
Department. He is a Cal Poly alumnus in Forestry and Natural Resources and ROTC.
Dr. Edson earned his MS degree in Environmental Monitoring from the University of
Wisconsin, and Doctorate from Oregon State University, where he researched the use
of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) for forest measurements. He is a retired
Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army Engineer Branch and finished his Army career
teaching Geospatial Information Science at the United States Military Academy, West
Point. He continued his teaching career at Michigan Technological University and came
to Cal Poly from the US Air Force Academy. In his teaching career he has taught
Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, Aerial Photogrammetry,
Unoccupied Aircraft System (UAS) Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Cartography,
Surveying, and Physical Geography.
Lieutenant Colonel Edson has operational deployment experience in Afghanistan and
Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has served as a Chief Engineer in charge of construction
operations, Geospatial/Topographic Engineer, and Combat Engineer with duty
assignments throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. As an enlisted soldier, he
served on active duty as in the 75th Ranger Regiment and reservist in the 12th Special
Forces Group.
Dr. Edson joined BRAE in 2025, where he teaches Engineering Surveying, and Aerial
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. His main research interests are leveraging UAS,
LiDAR, multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal imagery for applied forestry and
natural resource management, wildlife management, and geomorphology.
Specialization:
- UAS Remote Sensing
- LiDAR Forest Measurements and Geomorphology
- Carbon Sequestration
- Aerial Photogrammetry
- Cartography
- Geographic Information Systems
Courses:
- BRAE 239 – Engineering Surveying
- BRAE 345 – Aerial Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing