Keith Cunningham

Dr. Keith Cunningham is a Research Assistant Professor of Remote Sensing. He is also the Science Advisor for the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) where he provides advice on drone sensor development and data processing.  He is also a member of the UAF Intellectual Property Advisory Committee.

The majority of his research involves geospatial modeling. Keith currently manages two significant research projects:

• Working with the US Air Force to better forecast airborne volcanic ash which led to the creation of the first UAF business spin-off,  V-ADAPT.
• Optimizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for pipeline monitoring, which has led to the development of an open source drone ground control station and the creation of ArcticFire Development, another UAF business spin-off.

At UAF, Dr. Cunningham teaches classes that include Introduction to Remote Sensing, Lidar, Elevation Modeling, and Digital Cartography & Geovisualization. He also gives lectures on drone legislative and privacy issues as well as property taxation, particularly using drones for property measurements.  

Before joining UAF, Keith worked in private industry for 25 years where he founded three successful ventures in geospatial consulting, mapping, and software engineering services.  

UAF Startup Businesses

• ArcticFire
• V-ADAPT

Patents Pending

• 3D Taxation
• Volcanic Ash

Papers and Reports

• 3-D Geolocation from UAS Imagery: Investigating an Inverse Structure-from-Motion Model
• A Blueprint for Alaska’s Broadband Future
• Assessment and Mapping of the Riverine Hydrokinetic Resource in the Continental United States
• Augmenting Steller Sea Lion Surveys with UAS
• Cadastral Audit and Assessments Using UAS
• CAMA Change Detection with Light Detection and Ranging
• Drone Command and Control Study for the FAA NextGen Institute
• Patent SAR for Pavement Imaging
• Platform for Proactive Risk Based Slope Assessment
• Remote Sensing for the Audit and Assurance of the Carbon Market
• Satellite Remote Sensing and Carbon Market Transparency
• UAS for Geotechnical Monitoring of Pipelines in the Arctic
• UAS for Student Learning
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Alaskan Civil Research
• Use of Lidar for Change Detection and Updating of the CAMA Database