Title: Assistant Research Professor
Time at GRI: Since 2019
Hometown: Yichang, China
Q: What is your academic background?
I started studying Geographic Information Systems as an undergraduate in 2007.
After taking several GIS and Remote Sensing courses, I found GIS to be very
interesting and useful for the type of research I was involved in. I continued
my studies in GIS and pursued both a master’s degree and a Doctor of Philosophy
in GIS.
Q: What are your research interests?
My research interests focus on microwave soil moisture, hydrological modeling
and data assimilation of hydraulic variables with numerical models. In
particular, I work on retrieving surface soil moisture from satellite-based
measurements to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of remote sensing
soil moisture products and quantifying the error statistics of remotely sensed
soil moisture for integration with hydrologic models via data assimilation. In
addition, I am interested in examining the linkage between soil moisture and
evapotranspiration in the land-atmosphere interface.
Q: Who inspired you to purse the career you have today?
Many people have helped and guided me throughout my research career. Dr.
Huanfeng Shen, my master’s degree advisor was very supportive of my work and
was the one who encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. and served as my Ph.D. advisor
as well. Dr. Wade Crow from the USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing
Laboratory was a major influence in helping me learn to conduct research
thoroughly and served as my mentor during my Ph.D. program. Since I started at
GRI in 2019, Dr. Robert Moorhead has provided me with the support and resources
needed to continue my research on a variety of projects.
Q: What has been your favorite project while working at GRI?
Quantifying surface soil moisture at a global scale using Global Navigation
Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) satellite measurements via machine
learning. This project involved several state-of-the-art techniques, including
GNSS-R for retrieving soil moisture and utilization of machine learning. These
were completely new research areas for me, but with collaboration of other GRI
faculty such as Dr. Mehmet Kurum and Dr. Ali Gurbuz, this project has resulted
in several journal papers, dozens of citations, and two global soil moisture
products.
Q: What is the coolest thing you are working on right now?
Right now, I am mapping high-resolution root zone soil moisture at a 30-m
spatial resolution to assist with vineyard irrigation practices. We are taking
surface soil moisture information that is being acquired from radar remote
sensing and evapotranspiration thermal infrared satellite sensors and
integrating that with a soil vegetation atmosphere transfer model. This
process allows us to map root zone soil moisture at a high-resolution
continuously. We can provide this fine-scale soil moisture information to our
end user, i.e., E&J Gallo Winery, in a near-real-time scheme. Providing
root-zone water content to growers at this high level, not only helps improve
irrigation management practices it also enhances water use efficiency, quality,
and the economic value of grape harvests.