Brent Yantis, M.S.
Brent Yantis is the Director of the NASA/University of Louisiana at Lafayette Regional Application Center (RAC), where he brings over 30 years of expertise in geospatial land cover analysis, environmental change monitoring, and emergency response. Under his leadership, the RAC hosts a variety of professional training and outreach initiatives. The popular Annual Disaster Response/Geospatial Data Mining Workshop promotes geospatial coordination during hurricane and other disaster season events (e.g., Wildland fires), identifies points of contact, and shares information about data portals and resources. The event has proudly supported geospatial first responders ahead of hurricane season for over 26 years. The RAC supports student research by sponsoring the Student Poster Competition at the annual Louisiana Remote Sensing and GIS Workshop, where students are encouraged to submit posters of their original work, including class projects, thesis or dissertation work, or individual research.
The Rising Water GEOSERVICE Workshop, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is a STEM outreach initiative aimed at 8th–12th-grade students. Led by faculty and students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the program focuses on sparking interest in geosciences, especially geographic information systems (GIS) technology. Through hands-on workshops, students explore pressing environmental issues in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, such as coastline subsidence, marsh erosion, and flooding from tropical storms and sea-level rise. The program also emphasizes the human impact of these challenges and equips students with research and communication skills to engage their communities in problem-solving. The student team at RAC conducted research on utilizing STELLA spectrometers as an entry point to understand better the sensors on Landsat satellites, including the electromagnetic spectrum. The students will demonstrate how STELLA engages students with remote sensing, allowing them to explore key concepts, explain their understanding through practical application, elaborate on their knowledge with real-world data, and evaluate their learning process through hands-on technology.
Brent serves as Board Chair of the national AmericaView Program and Director of LouisianaView. He is also the State Geospatial Contractor for the Louisiana Army National Guard, a member of LaURISA, and a former President and Secretary/Treasurer of the Mid-South chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
In 2006, he began his service as a project manager with the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, a key provider of Earth-observation satellite data, and works with experts to derive information products to support disaster relief organizations in saving lives, property, infrastructure, and the environment following major disasters worldwide. Brent has coordinated geospatial support for major hurricanes, including Katrina, Rita, Ike, Harvey, Florence, Michael, Dorian, and Milton, as well as for events such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and flood mapping in Nepal.
At the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he also teaches GIS and Remote Sensing as part of a certification program. He has spent 21 years mentoring students and guiding many into careers in the geospatial field. Additionally, he curates the "Earth as Art" satellite imagery exhibit in collaboration with the USGS and has managed a 22-year consulting contract with the Louisiana Army National Guard.
Brent began his career in the private sector with an international oil and gas environmental support firm before serving nine years as Louisiana’s Geospatial Coordinator Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. He holds a B.S. in Agriculture and an M.L.A. in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University, specializing in Landscape Ecology, GIS, and Remote Sensing.
