Susan L. Ustin

Susan L. Ustin is a Professor in the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources at the University of California Davis, where she has been a faculty member since 1999. She is also the Associate Director of the John Muir Institute of the Environment and Head of the Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS). Her academic journey began with a Ph.D. in Botany from UC Davis in 1983, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on imaging spectroscopy.

• Ph.D. in Botany, University of California Davis, 1983
• M.A. in Biology, California State University, Hayward, 1978
• B.S. in Biology, California State University, Hayward, 1974

Dr. Ustin is a leading expert in remote sensing, with over 30 years of experience applying imaging spectroscopy, LiDAR, thermal, and multispectral data to ecological and environmental problems. Her research spans landscape and ecosystem ecology, focusing on vegetation mapping, invasive species detection, canopy water content estimation, wildfire risk modeling, and climate change impacts. She has developed novel methods for quantifying biophysical and biochemical properties of vegetation using remote sensing technologies.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong trend in integrating multiple remote sensing platforms (LiDAR, hyperspectral, thermal, satellite) to study complex ecological systems. Key research areas include fuel type and canopy structure mapping for wildfire risk, biochemical analysis of plant species, and monitoring environmental disturbances such as oil spills and hurricanes. She has been a key member of NASA's MODIS Science Team and the HyspIRI Preparatory Science Team, contributing to major Earth observation missions.

• Elected Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2017
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2010
• Outstanding Service Award, American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2004
• Elected Senior Member, IEEE, 2004
• SERDP Conservation Project of the Year Award, 2004
• Elected Fellow, The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society, 2002

Dr. Ustin has advised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and has led major research initiatives including the Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing. She has secured significant research funding from NASA, DOE, and other agencies to support her work on global environmental change and remote sensing applications. Her collaborations span across institutions and disciplines, including work with the National Research Council and Battelle on NEON.

She leads the Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS), which focuses on developing and applying advanced remote sensing technologies for environmental monitoring. The center works on projects ranging from agricultural productivity to wildfire risk assessment and ecosystem health monitoring using airborne and satellite platforms.