About Us
The Mobile Ops Story
Galileo Group Inc.’s Mobile Ops applies 20+ years of advanced remote sensing and hyperspectral imaging expertise from large-scale airborne campaigns providing organic materials mapping and classification products, to now newly patented smartphone-based mobile remote sensing technology and applications for mainstream consumer use.
As a proven leader in investigative science, Galileo Group has applied those underlying detection principles toward conceiving and implementing a new class of smartphone-based innovations and analytics designed for both research and mass scale use.
The technology is born from a background in mathematical modeling using in-house software development resources. With Galileo Group’s algorithms and core detection engines, outputs include advanced informatics detection reports, data sets, or computational tools designed for recurring scaled analysis.
Our Team
Michael Barnes, CEO and Founder
Mr. Barnes began his career with the US Government, serving over ten years, primarily as a civilian special operations officer. Having traveled extensively on a global basis to a variety of challenging locations, often in adverse situations, he acquired unique experience in operational and scientific management.
Mr. Barnes founded Galileo Group twenty years ago. His aim is to focus on applying advanced remote sensing technologies for practical use in emerging commercial markets. Galileo Group specializes in remote sensing applications with an eye toward large-scale automated informatics-related production output.
His hands-on approach as CEO includes managing the diverse capabilities required for airborne sensor collection, computational target analysis, and scientific investigative research. At the same time, his vision is to always push the envelope toward new strategic opportunities.
Mr. Barnes holds both MS and BA degrees in Physics. He is the named inventor for awarded and pending patents involving hyperspectral and remote sensing technologies.
Thorsten Mewes, PhD, Digital and Mobile PI
Dr. Mewes is a seasoned scientist in the field of image data analysis and applied remote sensing, with a strong focus on the use and application of spectral imaging data. He has been working with spectroscopy and hyperspectral data for over 15 years and has extensive experience in processing and analyzing airborne, ground-based, and laboratory spectral data sets.
Dr. Mewes’s consistently strong focus on scientifically translating data into meaningful information leads to delivering the best products to clients, all scientifically grounded and validated.
As a leading Galileo team member, Dr. Mewes was involved in numerous commercial and governmental hyperspectral airborne mapping and ground-based sensing projects and campaigns in the US, Europe, South America, and Africa as project manager, and data analyst, and/or science lead.
As a Pl in many imaging projects, his proven skills include understanding the nature of the scanned targets and translating the spectral information into actionable products, as well as describing the observed phenomena and presenting the informatics deliverables to clients.
Dr. Mewes has a key role in Galileo’s ARMADA™, a smartphone-based remote sensing program, and has led many testing, evaluation, and early application campaigns to optimize the system for use in the agricultural, cosmetic, and biomedical field. As a result, he co-authored three breakthrough patents.
Dr. Mewes holds an M.S. degree from the University of Gottingen, Germany, and a Ph.D. from the University Bonn, Germany, both in Geography with a strong focus on remote sensing and data analytics.
James Grichnik, MD, PhD, Biomedical PI
Dr. Grichnik is an acknowledged expert in Dermatology and Cancer treatment. He has been honored multiple times as one of America’s top physician, dermatologist, and doctor for cancer. After finishing his M.D. at Harvard Medical School, he worked and taught at Duke University Medical Center (NC, USA) and the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, (FL, USA), and served as the director of the Scully-Welsh Cancer Center (FL, USA), an affiliate to Duke Health’s renowned cancer program.
His research is well documented in over a hundred publications, including book chapters, monographs, peer-reviewed journals, and exhibition papers. He also served as an editorial board member of the Archives of Dermatology and reviewer of many high-ranked medical journals. He is on top of the latest research and developments in dermatology and cancer treatment.
His current position as Professor and Chairman of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at USF Health in Tampa, FL, is bringing together comprehensive cancer care with top-notch research and next-level treatment programs.
As biomedical advisor to Galileo, he is responsible for evaluating and validating the results from the smartphone imaging scenarios. He ensures the detected phenomena are biomedical features of interest. His invaluable expert input helps steer the smartphone imaging vision to new grounds with unprecedented meaning and use.
Dr. Grichnik holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical school and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Baylor College of Medicine.
Marialuisa Curran, Marketing Strategist
Mrs. Curran insatiable curiosity and genuine interest in what drives others is what makes her an ideal marketer. With 15 years of experience, Mrs. Curran has led marketing efforts for a variety of industries and backgrounds. She started in PR and advertising on the agency and nonprofit side, then on to corporate marketing from startup to global organizations – in industries such as retail, CPG, healthcare, and technology.
As a generalist, she’s combined ideas from B2B and B2C practices to create award-winning H2H (human to human) campaigns.
Mrs. Curran specializes in marketing automation and is HubSpot certified. She holds a Pragmatic Marketing certification and an Accreditation in Public Relations. She earned a Bachelor’s in Mass Communications – Public Relations at The University of South Florida in Tampa and a Master’s of Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and Management at The University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Join our team
The Galileo Group is made up of the best and the brightest in science, technology, computer engineering, mathematics, business development, and more. Contact us to learn about our apprenticeship opportunities for college students or other positions available.