Dr. Yelisetty Venkata Naga Krishna Murthy, born on 15th March, 1958, received his Masters’ in Science in 1979 and Doctorate in "Remote Sensing studies for Integrated Resources Data Management System" in 1986 from College of Engineering, Andhra University. He joined Indian Space Research Organisation in 1987.

Dr. Krishna Murthy has significantly contributed for about 3 decades in promoting geoinformatics for natural resource management and extending its use at grass root level. His contribution in developing innovative methodologies by integrating high technology geospatial inputs into conventional methods has greatly facilitated in ultimate assimilation of these inputs by the concerned including technocrats, bureaucrats, NGOs and end-user community for various thematic applications. One of his major contributions is in developing methodology and innovative application possibilities by georeferencing cadastral village maps with high resolution satellite data and its derived natural resources information to successfully implement beneficiary oriented developmental programmes of the Government of India at Gram Panchayat level. For easy access and dissemination of geospatial products and services at the village level, he designed and implemented various indigenous customized software packages using open source tools.

He was involved in the design of state projection grids for integration of digital data bases from village to national level, which has resulted in identification of suitable map projections for the future high resolution data products, creation of Indian National Spatial Data Fame Work and integration of digital databases of major national mission projects. This also facilitated in generating Ground Control Points (GCP) chips for data quality evaluation of the satellite data products of IRS 1C/1D, OCEANSAT, TES, RESOURCESAT and CARTOSAT. As Project Director for Maharashtra, developed methodology for integration of remote sensing derived resources data in GIS environment in early 90's itself, towards sustainable development of Uma-Gani watershed in Maharashtra as part of Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD).

He has greatly contributed in evolving database standards and design of query shells for National (Natural) Resources Information System (NRIS) Project. The query shell- Geo LAWNS (Geographically encoded Land and Water Information System) enables GIS data display, query and analysis both for district level planning and watershed development.

He led a team of scientists in successfully accomplishing a major user project for the Chhattisgarh State, funded by Gram Panchayat, encompassing natural resources database, road information system and georeferencing of cadastral villages maps of more than 20000 villages to generate land information system. Based on this initiative, he has been identified as Project Director for a major project on Cadastral Referenced Database (CRD) to facilitate generation of cadastral level database on natural resources information to enable Village Resources Centre (VRC) services. Many of his contribution have become part of national missions launched by Department of Space and also by various User Ministries. The methodologies and software tools have not only helped in speeding up the process of plan implementation but also in subsequent monitoring of the impact of the intervention.

As Project Director, Space based Information Support for Decentralized Planning (SIS-DP), for the first time ever, Ortho-corrected, high Resolution Satellite image generation, adjusting the photogrammetric block to the state level, for the country has been accomplished and by linking of resources maps are being utilized for implementing and monitoring developmental programs under IWMP, MGNREGA etc. The information and database have been populated and disseminated through BHUVAN.

He had been on International assignments to Syria, Peru to demonstrate the achievements of Indian Space Program; Vietnam to participate in the First Joint Project Team (JPT) meeting for establishing ‘Sentinel Asia’; and also to Thailand & Japan to deliver talks on ‘Applications of Earth Observation for Water Management, Capacity Building and Best Practices’ of ISRO in the areas of disaster management, water for development and water financing respectively. His presentation in the International Conference on the “Land Governance in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Responding to the New Challenges” has been published by World Bank. He has represented ISRO at the UN-ESCAP meet at Bangladesh, Malaysia and India. He made technical contributions as member of advisory and technical task teams of various ISRO programmes like Natural Resources Census, NSDI; CRC, ISRO-NASA Collaborative project on Global Climate Change, etc. He has about 174 technical papers and 150 technical reports to his credit. He has guided 6 Ph.D. scholars and guided nearly 25 customized, open source software tools.

He held many positions in his professional career, viz. Deputy Director, Applications and Deputy Director, Regional Centres at NRSC, Hyderabad; Director, Regional Remote Sensing Centre at ISRO, Bangalore and Head, Regional Remote Sensing Centre Nagpur.

Currently as Director Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO and also Director of UN Affiliated Centre for Space Science & Technology in Asia and the Pacific, Dehradun; Dr. Krishna Murthy is engaged in operational programs, research & development, capacity building and technology promotion in various disciplines of applied sciences and geospatial technology. Responsible for leading a team of around 65 scientists specialized in eight disciplines viz., photogrammetry & remote sensing, forestry & ecology, geoinformatics, geosciences, marine & atmospheric sciences, human settlement analysis, agriculture & soils, water resources; planning, scheduling and conducting of educational programme M.Sc/M.Tech, short term customized training programmes as per user needs, guiding young scientists to focus on research in emerging areas of remote sensing and their applications and meeting the user needs of various ministries, organizations. He facilitated in close range photogrammetry, disaster related mobile mapping and web GIS. As Director CSSTEAP he has contributed significantly in capacity building in Asia Pacific regions in the field of RS & GIS, Satellite Meteorology & Global Climate, Satellite Communication, Space & Atmospheric Sciences, Small Satellite Missions, Navigation & Satellite Positioning System and other short term courses.

Dr. Krishna Murthy has been conferred with awards like Astronautical Society of India Award for Space Sciences and Applications (2012), ISRO Team Excellence Award (2009), Astronautical Society of India Team Achievement Award (2009), National Geomatics Award for Innovative Applications by Indian Society of Geomatics (2008), Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award (2003) for his innovative contributions and outstanding achievements in the field of Space Applications.