Joint retreat of the Keenan and Girotto groups, Fall 2021
Group Members
Chen Chair in Climate Solutions
Associate Professor, UC Berkeley
Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Chief Scientist @ Earthshot Labs.
Research interests: Terrestrial ecosystems and global change; ecosystem ecology; nature-based climate solutions; carbon sequestration; biosphere-atmosphere interactions and feedbacks; data science; machine learning; phenology
Curriculum vitae here
Email: trevorkeenan@berkeley.edu
Research Scientist FLUXNET Project Deputy Director
Research interests: Climate change, carbon and water cycling, eddy covariance, aquatic methane emissions, methane bubbling sensors
Research Scientist (2023-present) Environmental Science, UC Berkeley
Postdoc (2021-2023) Environmental Science, UC Berkeley
Postdoc (2019-2021) Environmental Science, Stanford University
Postdoc (2018-2019) Environmental Science, Harvard University
PhD (2018) Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MS (2012) Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
BS (2007) Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California-Berkeley
Email: kdelwiche@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Ecohydrology, biometeorology, eco-evolutionary optimality, machine learning, data-driven and process-based model integration, climate change mitigation and adaptation
Postdoc (2019-21) Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
PhD (2019) Water Resources Engineering, Oregon State University, USA
MSc (2012) Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
Hydrologist (2009-15) USGS Pacific Islands Water Science Center, HI, USA
BSc (2008) Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Email: maoya@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Leveraging remote sensing and machine learning to understand global change impacts on socio-terrestrial systems
Post-doc (2023 - 2024), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
PhD (2019-2023), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
M.Sc (2016 - 2019), Remote sensing, Nanjing University, China
B.Sc (2012 - 2016), Geographic information system, Anhui University, China
Email: wantongli@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Evapotranspiration (partitioning), Water-Carbon Coupling, Machine Learning, Upscaling
PhD (2020-2024), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Germany & Ghent University, Belgium
MSc (2012) Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland
MS (2017-2020), Paleo-Climate Change, Nanjing University, China
Email: weijie.zhang@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher, NASA FINESST Fellow
Research interests: Eddy-covariance, land-atmosphere interactions, water cycling, solar induced fluorescence, machine learning
PhD (2025), Ecosystem Science, UC Berkeley
BSc (2019), Geology and Geophysics, Yale University
Email: sophie_ruehr@berkeley.edu
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Climate change, drought, terrestrial ecosystems, land surface models
Lecturer (2021-), Hydrology and Water Resources, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China
PhD (2021), Meteorology, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, China
BS (2016), Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, China
Email: miaozhang24@berkeley.edu
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Vegetation remote sensing, model development, coupled carbon-water simulation, forest structure estimation
Lecturer (2020-), Geomatics and Urban Spatial Informatics, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China
PhD (2020), Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, Beijing Normal University, China
BS (2013), Geographic Information Systems, Hubei University
Email: wuqiaoli2024ucb@berkeley.edu
PhD Candidate (CEE), NASA FINESST Fellow
Research interests: Remote sensing, water cycling, land surface/subsurface modeling, data assimilation
MSc (2020-2021), Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley, USA
BSc (2018), Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Tianjin University, China
Email: whq225@berkeley.edu
PhD Candidate
Research interests: Global Ecosystem/Carbon Cycle Modelling, Vegetation Dynamics, Water Cycle, Climate Change
BSc (2021), Environmental Science, University of Denver, CO
Email: ngoc.nguyen@berkeley.edu
Graduate Student, Berkeley Graduate Fellow, NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Research interests: Plant ecology, nutrient cycling, remote sensing, land surface modeling, plant-soil interactions, machine learning
BA (2019), Environmental Biology and Physics (double major), Washington University in St. Louis, MO USA
Email: jackie_reu@berkeley.edu
Alumni
Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2024)
Research interests: Remote sensing, machine learning, terrestrial ecosystems, climate change, crop yield forecast
Post-doc (2020 - 2021), Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD, USA
PhD (2020), Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
MS (2018), Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
MS (2013), Environment and Resources, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
BS (2011), Geographical Information System, Beijing Normal University, China
Email: yanghuikang@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2023-2024)
Research interests: Nature-based Climate Solutions (NbCS), forest restoration, land surface modeling, global change
PhD (2023), Biology, University of Utah, USA
MA (2019), Geography, University of Arizona, USA
BS (2014), Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science (double major), University of Kansas
Email: julia.yang@berkeley.edu
PhD Candidate (2019-2024), NASA FINESST Fellow
Research interests: Climate change, remote sensing, data science, land surface models, phenology
MSc (2019), Global Environmental Change, Beijing Normal University, China
BSc (2016), Remote Sensing and Technology, Wuhan University, China
Email: xinchen_lu@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2024)
Research interests: Drought, remote sensing, vegetation cover and function, carbon and water cycling, phenology
PhD (2020), Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
MA (2017), Geography, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
BA (2013), Physical Geography and Mathematics (double major), Boston University, USA
Email: dlm@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2023)
Research interests: Carbon and water cycle coupling through vegetation, biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks, climate extremes, remote sensing, surface hydrology, vegetation biogeochemistry, modeling, eddy-covariance data, machine learning, and statistical methods of data analysis
PhD (2019) Earth and Env. Engineering, Columbia University, USA
MSc (2014) Earth and Env. Engineering, Columbia University, USA
BSc (2008) Civil Engineering, Tufts University, USA
Email: jgreen17@berkeley.edu
Visiting Graduate Student (2022)
Research interests: terrestrial carbon cycle, machine learning, geo-information systems, remote sensing, climate change mitigation and adaptation
MSc (2020-), Climate Change, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
BSc (2019), Physics, University of Bremen, Germany
Email: maxgaber@berkeley.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2020-2022)
Research interests: Land-atmosphere interactions, Remote sensing, Earth system modeling
PhD (2020), Earth and Environment, Boston University, USA
MA (2015), Remote Sensing and GIS, Boston University, USA
BEng (2013), Remote Sensing and Technology, Wuhan University, China
Email: chenchi@lbl.gov
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher (2020-2022)
Research interests: Climate change, vegetation and the carbon cycle; forest and agroforestry systems; agroforestry for greenhouse gas mitigation
PhD (2017), Ecology and Sustainable Development, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, México
MSc (2013), Natural Resources and Rural Development, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, México
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher (2022)
Research interests: Terrestrial vegetation dynamics; Land surface phenology and climate change; Remote sensing; Agricultural and environmental management
Chancellor's Research Fellow (2020-), University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Postdoc (2018-2019), University of Technology Sydney, Australia
PhD (2017), Cartography and GIS, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China & University of Southampton, UK
Email: Qiaoyun.Xie@uts.edu.au
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2022)
Research interests: Ecosystem ecology of tropical and subtropical forests, remote sensing, vegetation modeling, land-atmosphere interactions, climate extremes
Postdoc (2020-2022) University of New South Wales, Australia
Postdoc (2017-2019) Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
PhD (2016) Forestry and Conservation, University of Florida
MSc (2008) Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
BSc (2005) Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine
Email: srifai@gmail.com
Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2022)
Research interests: Carbon and water cycling, climate change, plant physiology, remote sensing, sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence
PhD (2021) Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
MLA (2015) Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University, South Korea
BLA (2013) Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University, South Korea
Email: hyungsuk@berkeley.edu
Visiting Graduate Student (2021), DOE Student Research Fellow
Research interests: Carbon and water cycling in dryland ecosystems, eddy covariance, soil carbon dioxide efflux
PhD (scheduled 2021), Natural Resources (Watershed Management & Ecohydrology), University of Arizona
MSc (2016), Agricultural Meteorology, Iowa State University
BSc (2013), Meteorology, San Jose State University
Email: mattroby@email.arizona.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher (2017-2020)
Research interests: Remote sensing, global photosynthesis, terrestrial ecosystem models
PhD (2017), Physical Geography, University of Toronto, Canada
MSc (2013), Physical Geography, Peking University, China
BSc (2010), Environment and Resource Management (GIS & Remote sensing), Wuhan University, China
Email: xzluo.remi@gmail.com
Postdoctoral Researcher (2019-2021)
Research interests: Remote sensing, machine learning, global photosynthesis, drought
Post-doc (2018-2019), Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, USA
PhD (2017), Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oklahoma, USA
MSc (2014), Forest Management, Northwest A&F University, China
BSc (2011), Geographical Information Sciences, Nanjing University, China
Email: yaozhang@lbl.gov
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher (2019-2021)
Research interests: Climate extremes; land-atmosphere interactions; carbon and water cycling; evapotranspiration partitioning
Post-doc (2018-), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA
PhD (2018), Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China
BSc (2013), Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China
Email: sz2766@columbia.edu
Visiting Graduate Student (2019-2020)
Research interests: Remote sensing, distribution modeling, climate change, bamboo, land cover mapping
PhD (2018-), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2020)
Research interests: Climate change, data science, dynamic vegetation
BSc (2018-), Molecular Environmental Biology, UC Berkeley
Undergraduate Researcher (2018)
Research interests: Environmental Science, Urban Ecology, Stable Isotopes, Nitrogen Cycling
BSc (2019), Environmental Biology, University of Utah
Email: elmera.a@gmail.com
Visiting Graduate Student (2018-2019)
Research interests: Climate change, evapotranspiration, land surface models
PhD (2017-), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Email: wugn.15s@igsnrr.ac.cn
Postdoctoral Researcher (2017-2019)
Research interests: Plant traits, spectral methods, tropical ecology, plant functional theory
PhD (2016), Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK
MSc (2006), Botanical Conservation, University of Plymouth, UK
BSc (2004), Ecology, University of Plymouth, UK
Email: cchb@lbl.gov
Visiting Masters student (2017)
Research interests: Data science, machine learning, environmental science
MSc (2016-) Applied Mathematics, ENSTA ParisTech, Paris, France
BSc (2016) Mathematics, Lycee Condorcet, France
Visiting graduate student (2017-2018)
Research interests: Climate change, drought and optimal photosynthesis
PhD (2016-) Piao Group, Peking University, China
Email: mengtianhuang@pku.edu.cn
Postdoctoral Researcher (2016-2017, currently faculty at Texas Tech)
Research interests: Plant acclimation, photosynthetic theory, optimality
PhD (2016) Biological Sciences, Purdue University
BSc (2010) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Purdue Univeristy
Email: nick.smith@ttu.edu
Pre-UC Berkeley
Graduate student (2013-2016 Macquarie University, currently a postdoc at UNSW)
Research interests: Interactions between vegetation, climate and water resources
PhD (2016) Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia
BSc (2010) Geography, University of Bristol, UK
Email: a.ukkola@unsw.edu.au
