Vadrevu, Krishna

Bio

My research primarily focuses on using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for physical and spatial environmental geography studies. More recently, I have been focusing on remote sensing and spatial analysis to examine land use and land cover, sustainable agriculture, human-ecosystem interactions, over the continental United States and South/Southeast Asia. My expertise is also in ecology and biogeochemistry studies. Formerly, I worked as a Research Scientist (2005-2009) and Postdoctoral researcher (2001-2004) at the Agroecosystem Management Program, The Ohio State University (OSU). Specifically, I worked on projects involving sustainable agriculture, soils, and ecosystem health, utilizing remote sensing and GIS components at OSU. Before coming to the US (2001), I gained my Ph.D. (1997-2000) with a remote sensing focus while working at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC), India. My Ph.D. focused on characterizing biodiversity and forest cover dynamics in tropical forests using remote sensing techniques and ecosystem ecology, under the guidance of dual supervisors: one Physicist (with a Focus on Remote sensing aspects) and another forest ecologist. In the US, I served as a Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator (Co-I) on diverse projects funded by NASA, USDA, NSF, and other agencies, all involving a remote sensing component. My research has been highly interdisciplinary, with publications spanning land use/cover changes, biogeochemistry, biomass burning and emissions, agroecosystem studies, land-atmospheric interactions, biodiversity studies, spatial statistics, multi-criteria algorithms, and ecosystem sustainability. I firmly believe that hard work is the key to success. I am married to Anuradha Vadrevu and have two kids who keep us busy.

As of July 2016, I joined the civil service as an Earth Science Remote Sensing Scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Earth Science Office, in Huntsville, Alabama. Additionally, I currently serve as Program Manager for the NASA Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) program. I also lead the South/Southeast Asia Research Initiative (www.sari.umd.edu), which focuses on research activities. I am continuing as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, US., serving on graduate student committees and other voluntary work.