Prof. Dan G. Blumberg is the Vice President for Regional and Industrial Development, and Incumbent of the Simon Family Chair in Remote Sensing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Prof. Blumberg also served as the Chairman of the Israel Space Agency (ISA) between September 2022 through July 2025.     Prof. Blumberg received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University (1993) where he studied and worked in the Planetary Geology Group. He has been a leader in the development of the IT and cyber eco-system in Beer-Sheva, bringing over 40 multi-national companies, 70 startups and almost 300 new engineers to the advanced technologies park in Beer-Sheva.   Prof. Blumberg is a member of a national committee deigned to leverage the AI industry and research in Israel; he is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and also a member of the GIID steering committee.