Kaiyu Guan | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Kaiyu Guan (管开宇)
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

I am an Assistant Professor in ecohydrology and remote sensing in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Blue Waters professor at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). I use satellite data, computational models, field work, and machine learning approaches to address how climate and human practices affect crop productivity, water resource availability, and ecosystem functioning. I have keen interests in applying my knowledge and skills in solving real-life problems, such as large-scale crop monitoring and forecasting, water management and sustainability, and global food security. My lab closely works with scientists in computer science (deep learning, high performance computing), plant physiologists, agronomists, and economists in addressing the above real-life challenges.

Mission Statement: We aim to bring the domain knowledge, satellite data, supercomputing, and machine learning together to revolutionize the agricultural research, such that we can observe every crop field in real-time, monitor crop growth condition & water demands & nutrient needs, forecast crop yield and risks, and provide farmers our solutions to best manage their fields, across the U.S. Corn Belt and Worldwide. We strive to achieve co-sustainability of environment quality and food security.

Recent News:
Jul 2018: AGU Global Environmental Change Early Career Award (UIUC ACES, UIUC NCSA).
Jul 2018: The opening keynote speaker for the 3rd Annual Symposium of "Crops in Silico" in UIUC.
Aug 2018: R&D Magazine covers a story of our recent work in satellite crop applications.

Recruitment: I have plans to recruit highly motivated PhD students and postdocs with full supports in the coming years in the area of "crop remote sensing and modeling". Please contact me with your CV and research ideas. PhD student positions are available all years around: *HERE*. A new postdoc position is available right now: *HERE*.

Short Bio: Before I joined UIUC, I was a post-doctoral scholar working with Prof. David Lobell in the Center of the Food Security and the Environment and Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University. My postdoc research was to study climate change impacts and adaptations on crop production and food security in West African and US. Specifically, I used empirical and process-based approaches to model drought and heat stress effects on staple crop production and assess possible adaptation pathways. I also worked with Dr. Joe Berry on using satellite-based photosynthesis measurements (sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence) to quantify crop productivity. I briefly worked in the Climate Corporation to help their nitrogen modeling development between my Stanford and UIUC time.

(* indicates corresponding authorship, bold italics underline indicates postdocs or students mentored by Guan)

[52] Peng, B.*, Guan, K.*, Pan, M., and Li, Y. (In press) "Benefits of seasonal climate prediction and satellite data for forecasting US maize yield", Geophysical Research Letters.

[50] Xia, Y., Ugarte C.M., Pentrak, M., Guan, K., and Wander, M.(2018) "Developing Near- and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy Analysis Methods for Rapid Assessment of Soil Quality in Illinois", Soil Science Society of America Journal.