Researcher, Venture Capitalist Join Headwall Board of Directors

Headwall Photonics Inc. has added a venture capitalist and a remote sensing researcher to its board of directors.

Purdue University professor Melba Crawford is an expert in the field of remote sensing and agronomy, with a focus on data analysis and image classification, particularly for agricultural applications.

Crawford is associate dean of engineering for research, director of the Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing, and chairwoman of excellence in Earth observation at Purdue. She is also a past president of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.

"In the field of remote sensing, we're always looking at new ways of observing and monitoring the environment to improve agricultural yield, assess the health of our natural resources, and contribute to our overall knowledge of the planet," Crawford said.

Tom Crotty has been a venture capitalist for more than 30 years, including a dozen years as managing partner of Battery Ventures LP of Waltham. He is now a senior adviser at the firm.

"Headwall has pioneered spectral imaging technology that has the ability to notably impact how people interact with the environment, how companies produce and manufacture product, and [that] offers the medical community advanced techniques for disease detection and diagnosis," Crotty said.

Headwall Photonics is a designer and manufacturer of imaging spectrometers and spectral instrumentation for industrial, commercial and government markets.