University of Nebraska Kearney

Vijendra K. Boken, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Geography and Earth Science
The University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE 68849, USA

Phone: (308) 865 8357
Email: bokenv1 (at) unk (dot) edu 

BOOK

Boken, V.K.,  A.P. Cracknell, and R.L. Heathcote (Editors), 2005. Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study, Oxford University Press, New York, 472 pp.

The book consists of 34 chapters relating to remote sensing techniques (four separate chapters on visible/infrared, active, and passive microwave remote sensing), stochastic analysis of drought, drought monitoring in different countries around the globe, physiological characteristics of vegetation, efforts by international organizations (FAO, WMO, UNEP, USAID) to help mitigate droughts, climate change, and El Niño and Southern Oscillation.

Table of Contents 

Job Openings:

Currently there are no job openings.

However, UNK students have opportunity for doing research during summer, as an Undergrad Research Fellow, or through Research Abroad program. 

Teaching

GEOG 317: Remote Sensing of Environment. 

                   Look at a few satellite images. 

GEOG 400: Water Resources
GEOG 103: Dynamic Planet (Natural Hazards)
GEOG 101: The Atmosphere
GEOG 443: Remote Sensing Applications

GEOG 188:Global Warming and Climate Change

Research Projects & Collaboration

NASA Project (Improving Drought Monitoring for Nebraska)

Historical Airphotos of Nebraska: Our Department is in possession of about eighty thousand airphotos of 1930s and 1960s for most of Nebraska. Please look at the list of these photos.  Currently we are scanning and georeferencing these photos for limited area. If you are interested in having photos of your interest scanned and georeferenced, please let me know. 

             Look at the list of historical airphotos of Nebraska 

How to engage in research? Information for UNK students 

                 
Research Collaboration (National or International): I  am always interested in collaborative projects relating to applications of satellite data to agricutlure and water resources. Please look at  the list of my publications and let me know if there is something we can pursue together.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Geography (1999), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. 
   Dissertation: Prediction of Agricultural Drought for the Canadian Prairies Using Climatic and
   Satellite Data.
M.S., Water Resources Engineering (1993), Universityof Jodhpur, India
    Thesis: A Predictive Assessment of Agricultural Drought Using Climatic and Remotely Sensed Data.
M.S., Agricultural Engineering (1985), Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
B.S., Agricultural Engineering (1983), G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India.

EMPLOYMENT

August 2007- Present:  The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Department of Geography and Earth Science
July 2004 – July 2007:   The University of Mississippi, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering  &                                                                              National Center for Physical Acoustics
July  2001- July 2004:    The University of Georgia, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering  
1999, 2000 (summer)    University of Manitoba, Department of Statistics

2000-2001:                    Texas State University, Department of Geography
1999-2000:                    University of North Dakota, Department of Geography
1995-1999                     University of Manitoba, Department of Geography
1993-1994 ;                   Lakehead University, Department of Civil Engineering, Research Assistant.
1987-1993:                    Department of Space,  India.     
1986-1987 :                   National Remote Sensing Agency, India.
1986 (Summer)              International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India.      

AWARDS

Third prize on the poster, “Estimating the spatial variation in groundwater depth in the Mississippi Delta using a geographic information system”, by V.K. Boken, G.L. Easson, K.J. Ross, and M.L. Aten, Gulf Coast Geospatial Center conference, Biloxi, MS, 20-22 October, 2004.

University of Manitoba conference travel award to present a paper at the IEEE Geosciences and Remote Sensing Society Symposium, Hamburg, Germany, 28 June – 2 July, 1999.

The University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship, 1996-98.

The USAID scholarship for a 4-month training program in remote sensing at the Asian Institute of Technology, 1985.

Full scholarship and return-fare during the masters program at the Asian Institute of Technology, 1984-85.

National scholarship during high school and bachelors programs.

Reviewing

Reviewed articles for the following journals:

   Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PERS)
   International Journal of Remote Sensing
   Natural Hazards Journal
   Journal of Arid Environments
   Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers
   Global and Planetary Change
   Journal of Environmental Management
   Africa Journal of Agricultural research
   Annals of Arid zone
   Crop Science

   Applied Geography
 

Reviewed articles for the following conference proceedings:

    Georgia Water Resources Conference, Athens, GA, April 25-27, 2005.

 Book reviewing

 Reviewed chapters of the book: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems by K. Chang (2002), McGraw Hill.

 Publications

Articles in refereed journals 

Boken, V., Easson, G., and Rowland, J.  Monitoring vegetation for Guatemala using simulated VIIRS satellite data. 2010. GeoCarto International, 25(8): 617-627 

Boken, V. 2009. Improving a drought early warning model for an arid region using a soil moisture index. Applied Geography, 29(3):402-408 

Boken, V. K., G.  Hoogenboom, J. H. Williams, B. Diarra, S. Dione, and G. L. Easson, 2008. Monitoring peanut contamination in Mali (Africa) using the AVHRR satellite data and a crop simulation model.International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29(1):117-129 

Boken, V.K., and C.E. Haque, and G. Hoogenboom, 2007. Predicting drought using pattern recognition.  Annals of Arid Zone, 46(2):133-144. 

Guerra, L.C., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, V.K. Boken, and K.A. Harrison, 2005. Evaluation of on-farm irrigation applications using the simulation model EPIC. Irrigation Science, 23: 171-181.

Guerra, L.C., G. Hoogenboom, V. K. Boken, J.E. Hook, D. L. Thomas, and K.A. Harrison, 2004. Evaluation of the EPIC model for simulating crop yield and irrigation demand. Transactions of American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 47 (6):2091-2100.

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L.  Thomas, L.C. Guerra, and K.A. Harrison, 2004. Agricultural water use estimation using geospatial modeling and a geographic information system. Agricultural Water Management, 67 (3): 185-199.

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, F.N. Kogan, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, and K.A. Harrison, 2004. Potential of using NOAA-AVHRR data for estimating irrigated area to help solve an inter-state water dispute. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25(12):2277-2286.

Boken,V. K. and C.F. Shaykewich, 2002. Improving an operational wheat yield model for the Canadian Prairies using phenological-stage-based normalized difference vegetation index, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23 (20):4157-4170.

Boken, V.K., 2000. Forecasting spring wheat yield using time series analysis: a case study for the Canadian Prairies,Agronomy Journal,92(6):1047-1053.

(Boken) Kumar, V., 1998. An early warning system for agricultural drought in an arid region using limited data, Journal of Arid Environments, 40:199-209.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and U. Panu, 1997. Predictive assessment of severity of agricultural droughts based on agro-climatic factors, Journal of American Water Resources Association, 33(6):1255-1264.

Articles in refereed proceedings

Boken, V.K.,  Giuseppe, M., and Senatore, A. 2011. Estimating an evaportative  drought index for southern Italy using satellite and ground-based temperature data. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol 13, EGU 2011-9294. European Geophysical Union General Assembly. 

Boken, V.K., Martin, C., Nigro, J., Tucker, C.J., Levell, R., Volpe, N., and Stroup, J.  2011. A maize yield model based on the land surface temperature and evapotranspiration derived from Landsat satellite data. Proceedings of Earth-observation for Land-Atmosphere Interaction Science,Frascati, Italy, 3-5 November 2010 

Boken, V. K., and Haque, C.E. 2009. Modifying a drought early warning model using  MODIS satellite data. Proceedings of WEES-2009: Water Environment, Energy, and Society. Allied Publishers, pp. 742-744 [R] 

Maltsev, V.I., V.K. Boken, and M.M. Holland, 2007. Monitoring emergents and plants with floating leaves within deltas of Ukraine reservoirs using Landsat data.  Proceedings of the International research and practical Conference – Conservation, Reproduction, and Sustainable Use of  Bio-resources of Inland Water Bodies,  Federal State Research Institute of Lake and River Fisheries, Volgograd 400001,  Russian Federation, Aug. 14-18, 2007, pp. 189-192.

Boken, V.K. 2007. Linking landuse and groundwater quality in the Mississippi Delta using satellite data. IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing symposium, Barcelona, Spain, 23-27 July, 2007.

Hook, J.E., K.A. Harrison, G. Hoogenboom, D.L. Thomas, L.C. Guerra, and V.K. Boken, 2004. Irrigation practices during long-term drought in the Southeast, Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Irrigation Show, The Irrigation Association, Tampa, Florida, USA, November 14-16, 2004.

Guerra, L. C., G. Hoogenboom, J. E. Hook, D. L. Thomas, V. K. Boken, and K. A. Harrison, 2003. On-farm evaluation of the model EPIC for simulating irrigation demand, Proceedings of the Annual International Meeting, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, paper no. 033039, St. Joseph, Michigan, USA, July 27-30, 2003.

Boken, V. K., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D. L. Thomas, L.C. Guerra, and K.A. Harrison, 2003. Water use estimation for some major crops in Georgia using geospatial modeling, Proceedings of the 2003 Water Resources conference, the University of Georgia, Athens, USA, April 23-24, pp. 562-565.

Guerra, L.C., G. Hoogenboom, V. K. Boken, J.E. Hook, D. L. Thomas, and K.A. Harrison, 2003. Estimating statewide irrigation requirements using a crop simulation model, Proceedings of the 2003 Water Resources conference, the University of Georgia, Athens, USA, April 23-24, pp. 558-561.

Hoogenboom, G., L. C. Guerra, K.A. Harrison, D.L. Thomas, V.K. Boken, and J.E. Hook, 2002. Weather data collection for irrigation management, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Irrigation Show and Conference, The Irrigation Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 24-25, 2002.

Boken, V. K., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, L.C. Guerra, and K.A. Harrison, 2002. Estimating cotton-irrigation in Georgia using geostatistics and GIS, Proceedings of  the 25th Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, American Meteorological Society, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 20-24 May, pp. 103-104.

Guerra, L.C., G. Hoogenboom, V.K. Boken, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, and K.A. Harrison, 2002. Predicting water demand for irrigation based on a crop simulation model and local weather data. Proceedings of  the 25th Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, American Meteorological Society, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 20-24 May, pp. 101-102.

Guerra, L. C., G. Hoogenboom, V. K. Boken, J. E. Hook, D. L. Thomas, and K. A. Harrison, 2002. Estimating water demand for irrigation using a crop simulation model, Proceedings of the Annual International Meeting, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, paper no. 022030, St. Joseph, Michigan, USA, July 28-31.

(Boken) Kumar, V., C.F. Shaykewich, and C.E. Haque, 1999. Phenological stages based NDVI in spring wheat yield estimation for the Canadian Prairies, Proceedings of theIEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Hamburg, Germany, 28 June – 2 July,  pp. 2330-2332.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and U. Panu, 1994. A prototype decision support system for early  warning of drought, Proceedings of theAnnual conference of the  Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1-4 June,  pp. 300-308.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and U. Panu, 1994. On application of pattern recognition in drought classification. Proceedings of the  Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers,Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1-4 June, pp. 71-76.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and U.S. Panu, 1994. Predicting agricultural drought based on statistical analysis of rainfall and soil moisture index. Environmetrics conference, 12-15 August, National Water Research Institute, Burlington,Ontario, Canada.

Hooda, R.S., A.P.Khera,  M.L. Manchanda, J.R., Sharma, V. Kumar (Boken), and R.P. Dhir, 1991. Land use studies of Hisar district, Haryana using IRS, LISS-1 satellite data. International Workshop on Conservation and Sustainable Development, 22-26 April, Bangkok,Thailand,pp 1-11.

(Boken) Kumar, V., 1988. Satellite remote sensing and management of agricultural droughts in India, Proceedings of theNational Symposium on Remote Sensing in Rural Development, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 17-19 November, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, pp. 7-15.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and R. K. Gupta, 1988. Study of surface agromet datasets as corroborating parameters for space databased  analysis. Proceedings of theEARSeL Symposium, 17-20 May, Capri, Italy,pp53-56. 

Book chapters

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, and G.L. Easson. Applying pattern recognition to satellite data for detecting irrigated lands: A case study for Georgia, United States.   The manuscript was sent for the Global Irrigated Area Mapping to be edited by the International  Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka [In Review]

Boken, V.K.  2005. Agricultural drought and its monitoring and prediction: some concepts. In: Boken,        V.K., A.P. Cracknell, and R.L. Heathcote (ed.), 2005.  Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural    Drought: A  Global Study. Oxford University Press, New York, 3-10 pp. In addition, I am also a co-author in the  following chapters of the above book.

(Boken) Kumar, V., C.E. Haque, and M. Pawlak, 1998. Determining agricultural drought using pattern recognition. In Prairie Perspectives – Geographical Essays, [J.C. Lehr and H.J. Selwood (editors)], Winnipeg: Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Canada, pp. 74-80.

(Boken) Kumar, V., and C.E. Haque, 1998. Forecasting wheat yields in the Canadian Prairies using climatic and satellite data. In Prairie Perspectives – GeographicalEssays, [J.C. Lehr and H.J. Selwood (editors)], Winnipeg: Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Canada, pp. 81-92.

Papers or posters presented

Boken, V.K., Martin, C., Nigro, J., Tucker, C., Volpe, N., and Levell, R. 2011.  Estimating corn yield for Nebraska using weather and satellite data.  Paper presented at the Annual Nebraska Academy of Science conference, April 15, 2011. 

Boken, V. K., Martin, C., Nigro, J.D. , Tucker, C.J., Levell, R., Volpe, N.A., and Stroup, J. 2010. A maize yield model based on the land surface temperature and evapotranspiration derived from Landsat satellite data. Earth Observation for the land-atmosphere interaction science conference, Frascati, Italy, 3-5 November 

Boken, V.K.  2009. Satellite data applications to improving crop productivity under drought prone conditions.  Interdrought-III international conference, Shanghai, China, October 11-16 

Boken, V. K., and Bard, K. A. 2009.  Detecting corn planting using Landsat data. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, Lincoln, NE, April 17, 2009. 

Boken, V. K., and Haque, C.E. 2009. Modifying a drought early warning model using MODIS satellite data. Paper presented at the Water Environment, Energy, and Society conference, New Delhi,  January 12-16. 

Boken, V.K. 2007. Detecting climate change using statistical and pattern recognition analysis.  Annual meeting of  the Association of  American Geographers, Great Plain – rocky Mountain division, Denver, Colorado, Sept 28-29,.

Boken, V.K. 2007. Monitoring snow-cover using MODIS satellite data for predicting drought conditions in Nebraska, United States. Annual meeting of the American Water Resources Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico,  12-15 November, 2007.

Boken, V.K., A.K.M.A. Hossain, G.L. Easson, and J. Rowland, 2006. Testing the Potential of Next Generation VIIRS Satellite Data to Monitor Food Security: A Case of Mesoamerica.Fall  Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco, CA, 11-15 Dec.

Azad Hossain, A.K.M, G.L. Easson, and V.K. Boken, 2006. Mapping spatial variation in surface moisture using reflective and thermal ASTER Imagery for Southern Africa, Annual Conference, American Society of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Reno, Nevada, USA, May 1-5, 2006

Michelle, A.L., G. L. Easson, and V.K. Boken, 2005. Land acquisition prioritization for the protection of the Edwards Aquifer. ESRI International User Conference, San Diago, CA, 25-29 July.

Boken, V.K. and G.L. Easson, 2005. Modeling groundwater depth in the Mississippi Delta using weather and ASTER Satellite data. Spring Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), New Orleans, 23-27 May.

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, J.H. Williams, B. Diarra, and S. Dione, 2005. Developing a peanut-aflatoxin early warning system for Africa using satellite data and a crop simulation model. Poster presented at the International Peanut Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 9-12 January.

Boken, V.K., G.L. Easson, K.J. Ross, and M.L. Aten, 2004. Estimating the spatial variation in groundwater depth in the Mississippi Delta using a geographic information system. Poster presented at the annual conference of the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center. Biloxi, MS, USA, 20-22 October. (Awarded third prize in poster competition) 

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, and J.H. Williams, 2004. Monitoring Peanut Quality and Predicting Health Risk in Africa Using GIS and Satellite Data. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association G.,of American Geographers, Philadelphia, USA, 14-19 March.

Guerra, L. C., A. Garcia y Garcia, G. Hoogenboom, J. E. Hook, K. A. Harrison, and V. K. Boken, 2004.  Spatio-temporal variability in observed and simulated irrigation applications, poster paper, Proceedings of the 2004 American Society of Agronomy and Crops  and Soil Science Society of America,  International Annual Meetings, Seattle, Washington, USA, October 31-November 4, 2004.

Hook, J.E., E.R. Blood, D.L. Thomas, G. Hoogenboom, K.A. Harrison, V.K. Boken, and L.C. Guerra, 2003. Irrigation and water conservation effects on monthly stream flow in a mixed cropping area, poster paper, Proceedings of the 2003 American Society of Agronomy and Crops  and Soil Science Society of America, International Annual Meetings, Denver, Colorado, November 2-6.

Boken, V.K., and G. Hoogenboom, 2003. Detecting irrigated lands using pattern recognition and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite data, Poster presented at The Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, New Orleans, USA, 5-9 March.

Lee, Byun-Gul, V.K. Boken, T.M. Lillesand, and In-Jun Kang, 2002.Utilizing principle component analysis in unsupervised classification. Paper presentation at Korea-America Scientists and Engineers Association conference, Seol, Korea, July 9-11.

Boken, V. K., G. Hoogenboom, and F.N. Kogan, 2002. Application of NOAA/AVHRR data for estimating crop irrigation, Annual Meeting of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Washington, D.C., USA,  19-26 April.

Boken, V. K., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, L.C. Guerra, , and K.A. Harrison, 2002. Estimating cotton-irrigation in Georgia using geostatistics and GIS. The 25th Conference on Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, American Meteorological Society, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 20-24 May.

Boken, V.K., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, K.A., Harrisson, 2001. Estimating Agricultural Water Use in Georgia using a Geographic Information System. Georgia GIS conference, Athens, USA,5 -7 September.

Boken, V.K., 2001. Does the El Niño necessarily influence agricultural production in the United States of America? TheAnnual Meeting of the Association of  American Geographers, New York, 27 February - 3 March.

Boken, V. K., 2000. Interpretation of spectral-data-based vegetation indices. Annual meeting of the Southwest Association of American Geographers, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, USA, 2-4 November.

Boken, V.K., T. R. Loveland, and R.P., Waldkirch, 2000. Monitoring coal-mining impacts on agriculture in North Dakota  using Landsat TM data. TheAnnual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 4-8 April.

Boken, V.K., M. Hemmasi, and R.P., Waldkirch, 1999. Mapping spatial variation in spring wheat yields in North Dakota using a geographic information system. Poster presented at the EPSCoR conference, 10^th September, North Dakota State University,  Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

(Boken) Kumar, V., 1999. Spatial modeling of spring wheat yields for the Canadian prairies using a geographic information system. The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, 2-5 June.

(Boken) Kumar, V. and C.E. Haque, 1998. Development of hybrid models using climate and NOAA/AVHRR satellite data for estimating spring wheat yields in five crop districts of Saskatchewan. Annual Meeting of the Prairie Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers, Watrous,Saskatchewan, Canada, 16-18 October.

Monographs and reports

Boken, V.K. and G. Hoogenboom, 2003. Estimating Irrigated Area By Applying Pattern Recognition on NOAA-AVHRR Data. A report submitted to the Office of Research and Applications, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, The University of Georgia, Griffin, GA 30223, USA.

(Boken) Kumar V., R.P. Dhir, R.S. Hooda, A.P. Khera and M.L.  Manchanda, 1990. Landuse/Landcover Mapping in Bhiwani District, Haryana using IRS, LISS-1 Satellite Data. Regional Remote Sensing Service Center, Department of Space, Jodhpur, India, 22 pages.

    Such reports were prepared for all of the 12 districts of Haryana, nine districts of Gujarat, three districts of Uttar Pradesh,     two  districts  of  Rajasthan, and Delhi, under a Nation-wide project sponsored by the Planning Commission, Government of India.

(Boken) Kumar V., P. Prabhakar, N.K. Kalra, and R. Kuchhwaha, 1988. Application of Digital Techniques in Wasteland Mapping, Regional Remote Sensing Service Center, Department of Space, Jodhpur, India, 20 pages.

(Boken) Kumar V., 1986. National Drought Monitoring System - Status. Report RSAM-NRSA-DRM-TR-01, National Remote Sensing Agency, Balanagar, Hyderabad,  India, 10 pages.