Sponsored by Remote Sensing Specialty Group (RSSG)
Date: 3/27/2025
Time: 10:10 AM – 11:30 AM
Room: 260, Level 2, Huntington Place
Transforming Satellite Observations to Information Products of Essential Environment Variables
Speaker: Dr. Shunlin Liang
We are confronted with tremendous environmental and socioeconomic challenges, including frequent natural disasters, accelerating climate change, worsening poverty, hunger, and inequality. Satellite remote sensing is playing increasingly important roles. However, raw satellite observations are not directly helpful unless transformed into information products of essential variables characterizing Earth’s environment. This talk will cover this topic in three parts: 1) the historical development of methodology from empirical regression to AI foundation models; 2) an introduction to the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) products suite and the Hi-GLASS products suite; and 3) showcasing how these products can be used to address social and environmental issues.
Dr. Shunlin Liang received his Ph.D. from Boston University. He was a Professor at the University of Maryland for decades and is currently a Chair Professor and the Head of the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American association for the advancement of science (AAAS). He serves as an Editor-in-Chief of the journal Science of Remote Sensing. He has published over 490 SCI journal papers and eight books, five of which have been translated into Chinese. He is the Editor-in-Chief of nine-volume books “Comprehensive Remote Sensing”. He is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. According to Google Scholar, his H-index is 107, with over 46,000 citations.
The past speakers of John Jensen Distinguished Lecture Series:
- 2024 – Prog. Soe Myint, Texas State University
- 2023 – Prof. Karen Seto, Yale University
- 2022 – Prof. Ruth DeFries, Columbia University
- 2021 – Prof. Qihao Weng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University/Indiana State University
- 2019 – Prof. Marguerite Madden, University of Georgia
- 2018 – Prof. Douglas A. Stow, University of California, San Diego
- 2017 – Prof. John Jensen, University of South Carolina