Associate Professor, Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering
Assistant Dean (Academic), Faculty of Engineering
B.Sc.Eng; M.Sc.Eng; Ph.D. (UNB); P.Eng
Phone: 1-506-447-8116
Chair of COMREN
ACENET Research Directorate
Dr. Ian Church specializes in ocean mapping using acoustics. His current primary research interests are in automated data processing, integrating numerical hydrodynamic modelling with ocean mapping, marine habitat mapping, acoustic water column interpretation, and evaluating autonomous mapping platforms. The principal goals of his research are to understand the marine environment using acoustics and to recognize and minimize uncertainty in ocean mapping products.
Dr. Church received his B.Sc.Eng, M.Sc.Eng and Ph.D. from UNB while working with the Ocean Mapping Group. Between 2005 and 2013 he was involved with operating and managing the multibeam sonar system onboard the coast guard ship Amundsen, travelling throughout the Canadian Arctic. After spending eight summers in the Arctic and finishing his PhD, he moved to the University of Southern Mississippi, along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There he was part of the Hydrographic Science Research Center in the Department of Marine Science. In 2016, he moved back to UNB to take an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering and a leadership role of the Ocean Mapping Group.
- https://blogs.unb.ca/engineering/2018/02/dr–ian-church-is-exploring-and-mapping-the-last-frontier-on-earth.php
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1889-356X
- https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=fYWwZdgAAAAJ&hl=en
Publications and Papers in Conference Proceedings
Appointments
July 2024 – Present
Assistant Dean (Academic), Faculty of Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
July 2020 – Present
Associate Professor of Engineering, Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
- Research, teaching, curriculum development and graduate student advising within the Ocean Mapping Group on all aspects of seabed mapping including tides, sound speed error analysis, multibeam watercolumn data collection and processing and acoustic backscatter analysis.
June 2016 – July 2020
Assistant Professor of Engineering, Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
January 2014 – May 2016
Assistant Professor of Marine Science ,Department of Marine Science, University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Centre
December 2015 – May 2016
Honorary Research Associate, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
Education
Degrees
2011 – 2014 PhD in Geodesy & Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Canada
2006 – 2008 Master of Science in Geodesy & Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Canada
2001 – 2006 Bachelor of Science in Geodesy & Geomatics Engineering (First Division), University of New Brunswick, Canada