Zubkova, Maria

Bio

Dr. Maria Zubkova is an Assistant Research Professor who works with MODIS and VIIRS Burned Area and Active Fire group that develops and validates official NASA fire products. Her research in satellite-based wildfire mapping addresses the need to enhance ecosystem and community resilience to fire, as well as those that promote the use of beneficial fire, since, in recent years, catastrophic fires have led to the loss of billions of dollars, lives, and undesirable ecological and environmental consequences. In areas where fire is a dominant ecological disturbance and vital habitat management technique, the long-term fire suppression led to the diminishment of habitats and the buildup of unburned fuels that risk larger, more intense, and harder-to-control wildfires. Specifically, prescribed fires are commonly used in tropical savannas and the southeastern U.S. to reduce fuels, enhance wildlife habitat, favor endangered and threatened species, and restore vegetation structure. Despite widespread application and a number of benefits of those controlled burns, their use remains controversial. The near absence of prescribed fire statistics due to difficulties in mapping those small low-intensity burns precludes the evaluation of the effectiveness of extensive prescribed fire management for fuel and fire risk reduction, which, if present, would encourage burning and educate the public about the benefits of prescribed fires. 

To address those data gaps, in 2024, two of Dr. Zubkova’s NASA research proposals were awarded: the Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science aimed to study the relationships between fire management and woody encroachment in African savannas and Earth Action: Wildland Fires, which will automate prescribed fire mapping in Central Florida through multi-sensor fusion of NASA, commercial satellite and drone imagery. 

Outside of research, Dr. Zubkova dedicates a significant portion of her time to mentoring early-career geoscientists from high school to Post-Doc level. She is especially passionate about supporting and empowering women in STEM through the Association for Women Geoscientists mentoring platform Mentoring365 and NSF Full STEM Ahead.

She is also a Board member of the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) and the Chair of the SCGIS conference committee. In 2022, Dr. Zubkova received an Outstanding Post-Doctoral Associate in the Department of Geographical Sciences Award. In 2024, Dr. Zubkova received an Outstanding Research Faculty in the Department of Geographical Sciences Award.

Dr. Zubkova received her Ph.D. in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Sciences from the University of Idaho. Before that, she earned an MS in Geoinformation in Environmental Management from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) in Greece and a BA+MA in Landscape Design from the Russian State Agrarian University, Moscow, Russia.