Yu Shen

Yu Shen

Temporary Postdoctoral Research Associate

Biography

I am now a postdoctoral research associate in the Geospatial Science Center of Excellence at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University. My Ph.D. stage focuses on the monitoring and near real-time forecasting of crop phenology using both polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite observations. The research interests during my postdoctoral stage lie at the intersection of remote sensing, data science and the development of process- and deep-learning-based algorithms for geospatial science applications. I seek to advance our understanding of dryland vegetation dynamics, fire disturbances and the complex interactions between plant phenology and wildfire using observational, process-based and deep-learning models.

Education

  • Postdoctoral research associate, Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence | South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University | 2024-present
  • Ph.D. in geospatial science and engineering | South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University | 2024  
  • M.S. in cartography and geographic information systems | Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 2019
  • B.S. in cartography and geographic information systems | China University of Mining and Technology | 2016

Academic and Professional Experience

Academic Interests
Academic Interests
  1. Investigating remotely sensed dryland vegetation dynamics (e.g., phenology) in response to environmental factors such as wildfires, precipitation variability and extreme climatic events.
  2. Examining the long-term interactions between wildfire and dryland phenology and developing dynamic regression models to predict wildfire occurrence with phenology as an early indicator.
  3. Exploring the impacts of precipitation variability on plant phenology and growth in dryland ecosystems using PhenoCam/National Ecological Observatory Network data with multiple regression and process-based models.
  4. Exploring the linkage and discrepancy between remotely sensed and ground-based crop phenological detections across diverse spatial and temporal scales.
Academic Responsibilities

Under the guidance of my academic advisor and supervisor, my academic responsibilities include but not limited to (1) contribute to data analysis and visualization, (2) potential fieldwork, (3) mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, (4) manuscript preparation and (5) presenting research at conferences.

Committees and Professional Memberships
  • Member of American Geophysical Union
  • Member of American Association of Geographers

Research and Scholarly Work

à£à£Ö±²¥Ðãs and Honors
  • 2024 – SDSU Dr. Fritz Gritzner Outstanding Graduate Geography Student à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã
  • 2023 – from Life Technology
  • 2023 – Research spotlight at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University
Publications

Publications (* as corresponding author)

Articles 

  1. Liu, Y., Zhang, X. *, Tran H. K., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., An, S., 2025, . Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 366, 110497. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110497
  2. Tran H. K., Zhang, X. *, Zhang, H. *, Shen, Y., Ye, Y., Liu Y., Gao, S., An, S., 2025, . Remote Sensing of Environment. 320, 114656. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.114656
  3. Shen, Y. *, Zhang, X. *, Tran H. K., Ye, Y., Gao, S., Liu, Y., An, S., 2025, . Remote Sensing of Environment. 318, 114605. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.114605
  4. Gao, S.*, Zhang, X.*, Zhang, H. K., Shen, Y., Roy, P. D., Wang, W., Schaaf, C., 2024, . Remote Sensing of Environment. 315, 114407. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114407
  5. Liu, Y., Zhang, X.*, Shen, Y., Ye, Y., Gao, S., Tran H. K. 2024, . ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 210, 242-259. DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2024.03.017
  6. Shen, Y. *, Zhang, X. *, Gao, S., Zhang, H., Schaaf, C., Wang, W., Ye, Y., Liu, Y., 2024, , Remote Sensing of Environment. 302, 113972. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2023.113972
  7. Román, M.O. *, Justice, C., Paynter, I. *, Boucher, P.B., Devadiga, S., Endsley, A., Erb, A., Friedl, M., Gao, H., Giglio, L., Gray, J.M., Hall, D., Hulley, G., Kimball, J., Knyazikhin, Y., Lyapustin, A., Myneni, R.B., Noojipady, P., Pu, J., Riggs, G., Sarkar, S., Schaaf, C., Shah, D., Tran, K.H., Vermote, E., Wang, D., Wang, Z., Wu, A., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., Zhang, S., Zhang, S., Zhang, X., Zhao, M., Davidson, C. and Wolfe, R. 2024. . Remote Sensing of Environment. 302, 113963. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2023.113963
  8. Tran, K.H., Zhang, X. *, Ye, Y., Shen, Y., Gao, S., Liu, Y., Richardson, A. 2023, . Scientific Data, 10, 691. DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02605-1
  9. Shen, Y., Zhang, X. *, Yang Z., Ye Y., Wang J., Gao S., Liu Y., Wang, W., Tran H. K., Ju J., 2023, , Remote Sensing of Environment, 296, 113729. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2023.113729
  10. Shen, Y., Zhang, X. *, Yang, Z., 2022, , ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 186, 55-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2022.01.023
  11. Zhang, X. *, Shen, Y., Gao, S., Wang, W., Schaaf, C., 2022, . Geophysical Research Letters, 49. DOI: 10.1029/2022GL098662
  12. Tran, K.H., Zhang, X. *, Ketchpaw, A.R., Wang, J., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., 2022, , Remote Sensing of Environment, 282, 113275. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2022.113275
  13. Ye, Y., Zhang, X. *, Shen, Y., Wang, J., Crimmins, T., Scheifinger, H., 2022, , ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 194, 74-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2022.09.018
  14. Shen, Y., Zhang, X. *, Wang, W., Nemani, R., Ye, Y., and Wang, J., 2021, , Remote Sensing, 13. 21, 4465. DOI: 10.3390/rs13214465

Presentations:

  1. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Gao, S., Zhang, H. K., Schaaf C., Wang W., Ye Y., Liu Y., Tran H. K., Investigation of GOES-R ABI EVI2 time series adjusted using different BRDF models. AGU Fall Meeting 2023, Dec. 11-15, San Francisco, California, USA.
  2. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Yang, Z., Gao, S., Ye, Y., Liu, Y., Wang, W., Monitoring Crop Progress at Field Scales in Near-real-time by Fusing Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Time Series with Geostationary Satellite Observations. American Association of Geographers-Great Plains-Rocky Mountain Regional Division Annual Meeting 2023, Oct. 6-7, Sioux Falls, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã, USA.
  3. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., An Operational Algorithm for Monitoring Near-real-time Crop Progress at Field Scales by Fusing Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 Time Series with Geostationary Satellite Observations. 53rd South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State Geography Convention 2023, Brooking, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã, USA.
  4. Shen. Y., Zhang, X., Estimating Various Corn and Soybean Phenometrics at Field Scales by Fusing Time Series of VIIRS and HLS Data Over the U.S. Corn Belt. 52nd South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State Geography Convention 2022, Brooking, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã, USA.
  5. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Near real-time mapping of corn and soybean at 30 m pixels by blending crop phenometrics with growth magnitude from multi-source satellite observations. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2024, Dec. 9-13, Washington, D.C., IL, USA
  6. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Yang, Z., Wang, J., Ye, Y., Wang, W., A novel algorithm for near real-time crop Progress Monitoring at Field Scales by fusing observations from harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 and geostationary satellites. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2022, Dec. 12-16, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
  7. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Fusing New Generation Geostationary Satellite Observations with Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 Time Series for Monitoring Land Surface Phenology, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021, Dec. 13-17, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
  8. Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Yang, Z., 2020, Mapping Crop Phenological Metrics at Field Scales by Fusing Time Series of VIIRS and HLS over the United States Corn Belt, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021, Dec. 10-17, online.
Mailing Address:
Wecota Hall 216
Geospatial Science Center of Excellence-Box 0506
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007
Cell Phone Number:
605-690-8457
Office Location:
Wecota Hall
Room 216
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