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I am interested in understanding how terrestrial ecosystems interact with climate change and disturbances like wildfire. My research focuses on the driving mechanisms of disturbances and the impacts of disturbances on ecosystem functioning and carbon balance, combining field and satellite observations, dynamical modeling, and data-driven methods. I also specialize in large-scale monitoring of vegetation dynamics and land-use/land-cover change with remote sensing.

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Professional appointments

Shuimu Scholar & Postdoctoral Research Fellow. 2020/10 – present.
Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University.

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Education

• Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences. University of Maryland at College Park.
• M.Sc. in Geography. University of Georgia.
• B.Eng. in Science and Technology of Remote Sensing. Wuhan University.

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Research experiences

• 2014 – 2020. Graduate research Assistant, University of Maryland.
  • 2019 – 2020. NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change project: Understanding the Role of Land Cover/Land Use Nexus in Malaria Transmission under Changing Socio-Economic Climate in Myanmar. PI: Dr. Tatiana Loboda.
  • 2019 – 2020. NASA Earth Observations for Health project: Myanmar Malaria Early Warning System (MMEWS): Multi-sensor Satellite Data Fusion System for Monitoring Environmental Predictors of Malaria in the Region of Emerging Artemisinin Resistance. PI: Dr. Tatiana Loboda.
  • 2017 – 2019. NASA ABoVE project: Quantifying long-term impacts of single and repeated wildfire burning in North American tundra on organic soil carbon stocks and ecosystem functioning. PI: Dr. Tatiana Loboda.
  • 2017 – 2019. NASA CMS project: Cropland Carbon Monitoring System (CCMS): A satellite-based system to estimate carbon fluxes on U.S croplands. PI: Dr. Varaprasad Bandaru.
  • 2014 – 2015. UMD College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Dean’s Research Initiative project: Harnessing GIS Technologies to Advance Research on Time Use. PI: Dr. Paul Torrens.
• 2016/06 – 2016/08. NASA Supported Summer Internship, University of Maryland. PI: Dr. Nima Pahlevan.
  • Software development for Sentinel-2A data processing in NASA’s SeaDAS application with C/C++.
  • Performed atmospheric correction and validated surface reflectance outputs of MSI data for coastal and inland water applications using Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data.

• 2015/06 – 2015/08. Advanced GIS Intern, National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

• 2013 – 2014. Consultant & Project Lead, NASA DEVELOP program - University of Georgia Center.

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Teaching Development

• Teaching assistant, Department of Geographical Sciences. 2015 – 2017.
  • Master of Science in Geospatial Information Sciences courses
    • Spatial Analysis, Spatial Statistics, GIS and Spatial Modeling, Web Programming, Mobile GIS, Advanced Remote Sensing using LiDAR
  • Undergraduate courses
    • Introduction to Remote Sensing, Introduction to Computer Programming for GIS
• University Teaching and Learning Program (UTLP) Associate Level Certification, University of Maryland. 2019.