Biophysical and Biochemical Characterization and Plant Species Studies

Dr. Prasad S. Thenkabail, Research Geographer-15, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), is a world-recognized expert in remote sensing science with multiple major contributions in the field sustained over more than 30 years. He obtained his PhD from the Ohio State University in 1992 and has over 140+ peer-reviewed scientific publications. Dr. Thenkabail has conducted pioneering cutting-edge research in the area of hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation (https://www.usgs.gov/wgsc/GHISA/) and in that of global croplands and their water use for food security (www.croplands.org). Dr. Thenkabail's contributions to series of leading edited books on remote sensing science along with his research and other contributions in the subject places his as a noted global expert in remote sensing science. He edited three-volume book entitled Remote Sensing Handbook published by Taylor and Francis, with 82 chapters and more than 2000 pages, widely considered a magnus opus encyclopedic standard reference for students, scholars, practitioners, and major experts in remote sensing science. He has recently completed editing four-volume Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Vegetation. He has also edited a book on Remote Sensing of Global Croplands for Food Security. He is currently an editor-in-chief of the Remote Sensing open access journal published by MDPI; an associate editor of the journal Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PERS) of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS); and an editorial advisory board member of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. NASA and USGS selected him on the Landsat Science team (2007-2011). Earlier, he served on the editorial board of Remote Sensing of Environment for many years (2007-2017). He has won three best paper awards from ASPRS for his publications in PE&RS. Detailed bio of Dr. Thenkabail can be found here: https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/prasad-thenkabail John G. Lyon has conducted scientific and engineering research and administrative functions throughout his career. He is formerly the senior physical scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD) and Office of the Science Advisor in Washington, DC, where he co-led work on the Group on Earth Observations and the USGEO subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and research on geospatial issues. Lyon was director of ORD's Environmental Sciences Division for approximately eight years. He was educated at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.Professor Alfredo Huete leads the Ecosystem Dynamics Health and Resilience research program within the Climate Change Cluster (C3) at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. His main research interest is in using remote sensing to study and analyze broad scale vegetation health and functioning. Recently, he used remote sensing and field measurements to understand the phenology patterns of tropical rainforests and savannas in the Amazon and Southeast Asia and his Amazon work was featured in a National Geographic television special entitled The Big Picture. Currently his research involves coupling eddy covariance tower flux measurements with ground spectral sensors and satellite observations to study carbon and water cycling across Australian landscapes. He is actively involved with several international space programs, including the NASA-EOS MODIS Science Team, the Japanese JAXA GCOM-SGLI Science Team, the European PROBA-V User Expert Group, and NPOESS-VIIRS advisory group.