Patrick HOGAN began his career with NASA in 1991 as the senior environmental geologist at Ames Research Center. Then in 2002 Patrick led the NASA Learning Technologies program where World Wind was created. World Wind is the world’s first open source virtual globe program, and in 2009 was awarded NASA Software of the Year. Currently there are versions in Java, Android and iOS, with the web version now being developed in JavaScript.

NASA has a motto, ‘for the benefit of all.’ In this spirit, NASA World Wind helps the world advance innovative solutions for spatial data in the realm of Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) data. For his work on NASA World Wind, Patrick was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

Patrick graduated with a Masters in geology and a teaching credential. Before joining NASA, Patrick worked for a couple years as a High School science teacher in the classroom and then as a California-Licensed Professional Geologist in the geotech industry.