Santosh Rijal

Santosh Rijal is a Collegiate Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Virginia Tech, part of the College of Natural Resources and Environment. He holds a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2017), an M.S. from the University of North Dakota (2011), and a B.S. from Tribhuvan University, Nepal (2008). His research focuses on geospatial applications, remote sensing, and environmental studies, with emphasis on military land condition analysis and permafrost mapping in Alaska. He teaches courses including Principles of GIS, Remote Sensing, and Advanced Modeling with GIS.

Rijal's work integrates geospatial technologies to address environmental challenges, particularly military training impacts on ecosystems and climate adaptation strategies. His research has explored land erosion detection using LiDAR, soil moisture estimation via satellite data, and Natech event vulnerability assessments in coastal regions.

He collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on projects such as Fort Riley military installation monitoring and has published extensively in journals like Natural Hazards and Remote Sensing. Rijal actively contributes to the Center for Geospatial Information Technology at Virginia Tech and maintains strong ties to the university’s academic and research communities.