THE LAB

The People Behind the Research

From faculty leadership to first-year undergraduates, here's who's building the Remote Sensing Lab's work in GeoAI, hyperspectral sensing, and Earth observation.

Dr. Vasit Sagan

Director, Remote Sensing Lab · Professor of Geospatial Science & Computer Science

Dr. Sagan directs SLU's Remote Sensing Lab and serves as Associate Vice President for Geospatial Science. He founded SLU's Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU) in 2018 with a $50K "Big Idea" grant and grew it into the Taylor Geospatial Institute — now a nationally recognized geospatial research hub that has secured more than $30M in external funding.

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Dr. Vasit Sagan is Professor of Geospatial Science and Computer Science, Associate Vice President for Geospatial Science at Saint Louis University (SLU). He directs SLU's Remote Sensing Lab and previously served as the Founding Director of SLU's Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU), Founding and Acting Director of the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI), where he guided the consortium's launch and rapid growth into one of the nation's premier geospatial research institutes.

Dr. Sagan founded SLU's Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU) in 2018 with an initial $50K "Big Idea" grant, transforming it into the Taylor Geospatial Institute — a nationally recognized leader — through a historic gift from Andrew Taylor in 2022. Under his leadership, GeoSLU and TGI have secured more than $30M in external research funding, established innovative fellowship programs such as Planet Fellowship and TGI Fellows, created the Geospatial Data Analytics Library, and helped position St. Louis as a national hub for geospatial excellence through initiatives such as the Geo-Resolution conference and collaborations with NGA.

An internationally recognized scholar in remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and digital agriculture, Dr. Sagan has served as PI/Co-PI on over $50M in research funding and authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications. He has mentored 22 doctoral and 30 master's students, supervised 16 postdoctoral researchers, and served on numerous dissertation committees. He also serves on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Geospatial Advisory Committee, chaired the Subcommittee on U.S. Geospatial Excellence and Innovation, co-chairs the Landsat Advisory Group (LAG), and is an Associate Editor for the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

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RESEARCH SCIENTISTS · SOFTWARE ENGINEERS · DATA SCIENTISTS

Research Staff

Derek Tesser

Senior Research Scientist

Studies tropical forest structure using imaging radar and LiDAR from satellites and drones.

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Derek Tesser is a Senior Research Scientist at Saint Louis University's Remote Sensing Lab. He earned his Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the City University of New York, where he focused on imaging radar and lidar data from satellite and drones to study tropical forest structure and ecosystem functioning for biodiversity and conservation purposes. Derek has completed research internships with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab ECOSTRESS mission, studying plant water use in tropical forests and precision agriculture applications, including vineyard management in Sonoma, California. He has participated in various NASA wetland campaigns, including calibration/validation efforts in the Amazon for the upcoming NISAR mission.

Justin Vilbig

Geospatial Data Scientist · PhD Candidate

Focuses on drone data collection and applying geospatial technology to archaeological research.

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Justin Vilbig (2023–) is a Geospatial Data Scientist with the Remote Sensing Lab, having held the same position at SLU's Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU) (2019–2022) and Taylor Geospatial Institute (2022–2023). His work focuses on drone data collection and analytics services. Justin is also a PhD candidate in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics program. He earned his B.S. in Anthropology and Political Science from Truman State University (2010) and his M.S. in Sustainability with a Graduate Certificate in GIS Technology from SLU (2017). His PhD research applies geospatial technology to archaeological exploration in North America, using multispectral data and drone imagery for archaeological mapping and feature detection.

Felipe Alencar Lopes

Research Scientist

Applies GeoAI to crop disease monitoring and deforestation detection.

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Felipe Alencar Lopes is a Research Scientist with the Remote Sensing Lab at Saint Louis University. In 2020, he earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. He worked as a research assistant at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, during 2016–2017, and since 2018 has been a lecturer at the Federal Institute of Alagoas, Brazil, where he recently founded the Laboratory of Data Analysis and Engineering. His past research focused on smart irrigation, models at runtime, and AI applied to networks. Currently, his research focuses on GeoAI and remote sensing applied to crop disease monitoring and deforestation.

Aviskar Giri

Geospatial Data Scientist · PhD Student

Researches hyperspectral imaging of permafrost in Alaska.

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Aviskar Giri is a Geospatial Data Scientist at Saint Louis University's Remote Sensing Lab, also pursuing a Ph.D. under Dr. Sagan focused on hyperspectral imaging of permafrost in Alaska. He earned a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Mathematics from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He began his career as a project manager at Fargo Consultants, a civil engineering firm, before joining SLU in 2021 as a graduate student in Geographic Information Science. After completing his degree, he joined Taylor Geospatial Institute as a full-time geospatial data scientist.

Ajay Kumar Patel

Postdoctoral Fellow

Uses hyperspectral imaging to assess soil fertility.

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Ajay Kumar Patel is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Remote Sensing Lab at Saint Louis University. He earned his Ph.D. in the Geomatics Engineering Group from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, and was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Department of Smart Agricultural Systems at Chungnam National University, South Korea (July 2021–December 2022). His past research focused on plant phenotyping using 3D LiDAR point clouds and hyperspectral remote sensing. His current research focuses on assessing soil fertility status using hyperspectral imaging.

Sayan Dey

Research Scientist

Builds AI-driven flood forecasting and river morphology models.

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Sayan Dey is a Research Scientist in the Remote Sensing Lab at Saint Louis University, specializing in hydrology and hydrodynamics. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in 2021. His research advances understanding of large-scale flood processes to enhance water security and disaster resilience. He has developed scalable, high-resolution geospatial frameworks for flood forecasting and river morphology characterization, particularly for data-sparse regions, and currently integrates remote sensing with physics-based and AI/ML modeling for near-real-time flood warning systems.

Omar Al Akkad

Geospatial Software Engineer · PhD Student

Leads development of Hyperfidelis, a GeoAI toolkit for precision agriculture.

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Omar Al Akkad is a Geospatial Software Engineer and PhD student in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics program. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Alfaisal University (2019), Saudi Arabia, and an M.S. in Artificial Intelligence from Saint Louis University (2023). His research involves remote sensing, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision for plant yield prediction and disease detection. He also leads development of Hyperfidelis, a software toolkit designed to advance precision agriculture through GeoAI.

Cagri Gul

Geospatial Data Scientist

Works on UAV and ground systems, with a background in InSAR deformation monitoring.

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Cagri Gul is a Geospatial Data Scientist with the Remote Sensing Lab. He earned his B.S. in Geomatics Engineering from Ondokuz Mayıs University, Türkiye (2012), and worked as a Geomatic Engineer and Manager at Türkiye's Ministry of National Education, Department of GIS and Property (2014–2022). He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in Spring 2022 with a Turkish government scholarship and earned his M.S. in Geographic Information Science in May 2024. His past research improved InSAR accuracy for slow deformation monitoring with LiDAR and GPS. He now works in the UAV & Ground Systems division as a Geospatial Data Scientist.

Yusupujiang Aimaiti

Research Scientist

Combines optical and SAR data for crop monitoring and damage assessment.

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Yusupujiang Aimaiti is a Research Scientist with the Remote Sensing Lab at Saint Louis University. He earned his Ph.D. in Urban Environment Systems from Chiba University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University (October 2021–September 2022). His past research focused on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and its application to natural and human-induced hazards. His current research focuses on the synergetic use of optical and SAR data in crop monitoring and damage assessment.

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PHD · MASTER'S · UNDERGRADUATE

Current Students

Madeline Gerloff

Undergraduate · Geoinformatics

Exploring geospatial tools for agricultural and environmental practices.

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Madeline Gerloff is a current undergraduate student studying Geoinformatics with a double major in Anthropology. Joining the Remote Sensing Lab in Fall 2025, her primary research interests are utilizing geospatial technologies to improve agricultural and environmental practices in the United States.

Joey Jilek

PhD Student

Integrating InSAR, LiDAR, and geospatial analytics for surface deformation detection.

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Joey Jilek is a Ph.D. student in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics Program, started in May 2026. He earned his M.S. in GIScience from Saint Louis University (2026) and his B.A. in Geography and B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas (2024). His research focuses on integrating InSAR, LiDAR, and advanced geospatial analytics to improve detection and modeling of surface deformation and environmental change. He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in Spring 2025 as an MS research assistant, then PhD research assistant in May 2026 with a SMART scholarship from the DoW. Thesis: Very Cool Stuff.

Helena Marvin

PhD Student

Researching metadata interoperability for geospatial datasets.

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Helena Marvin is a PhD student in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics at Saint Louis University, where she also serves as the Business Librarian supporting the Chaifetz School at SLU. She holds an MA in History from the City College of New York and an MLIS from CUNY Queens. Her research interests include metadata interoperability for geospatial datasets and geospatial applications in labor market analysis. She joined the Remote Sensing Lab in Fall 2026. Dissertation title: TBD.

Austin Willis

PhD Student

Building geospatial data pipelines and digital twin frameworks for infrastructure.

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Austin Willis (2026–) is a PhD student in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics at Saint Louis University, where his research centers on geospatial data pipelines, digital twin/reality capture frameworks, and AI/ML-driven decision support. He holds GISP, PMP, and Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certifications and is a GIS Leadership Academy (GLA) graduate. His work bridges traditional survey practices with mobile mapping, digital twins, enterprise GIS, and machine learning to improve infrastructure management. Dissertation title: TBD.

Sean Larson

Undergraduate · Environmental Science

Applying GIS to karst systems and freshwater resource management.

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Sean Larson is a current undergraduate student studying environmental science at Saint Louis University. He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in Fall 2025. His interests include applying GIS to karst system research and freshwater resource management.

Abuduwanli Maiwulanjiang

M.S. Student

Assists with hyperspectral seed composition research.

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Abuduwanli Maiwulanjiang is an M.S. student in the GIScience program, holding an MSc in International Finance and Data Analytics from Tokyo Takushoku University, Japan. He was a Research Scientist with the Remote Sensing Lab from July 2023–June 2024, focused on seed composition estimation using indoor hyperspectral sensing. He is now a research assistant, assisting the data analytics team with field data collection and analysis. Thesis: TBD.

Nuerbiye Muhetaer

PhD Student

Monitors deforestation and land-use change.

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Nuerbiye Muhetaer is a PhD student in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics program. She holds a B.S. in Geographic Information Science (2020) and an M.A. in Geography (2023), both from Xinjiang University. Her research focuses on environmental monitoring, particularly deforestation and land-use change. She joined the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2024. Thesis: TBD.

Kristen Rhodes

PhD Student

Uses remote sensing to forecast locust outbreaks and food security threats.

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Kristen Rhodes is a PhD student in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics program. She earned her B.S. in Geography and Environmental Resources from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2005) and M.S. in Engineering Management from Missouri S&T Rolla (2010). Her research focuses on geospatial and remote sensing applications for monitoring food security threats caused by locust outbreaks. Dissertation: Enhanced forecasting of locust outbreaks: integrative social-environmental modeling to contend global food insecurity.

Ashutosh Pawar

PhD Student

Mapping global manure management systems with GeoAI.

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Ashutosh Pawar is a Ph.D. student in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics. Before joining the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2023, he worked as a Data Scientist at an Agri-Tech startup in India. He holds an M.Sc. in Data Science and Spatial Analytics and a B.Sc. in Computer Science. His research develops remote sensing and GeoAI methods to map and monitor global manure management systems at cattle operations. Dissertation Title: "Manure Happenings: A GeoAI Framework for Mapping Global Manure Management Systems with Remote Sensing, Knowledge Graphs, and Foundational Models."

Mustafizur Rahaman

PhD Student

Mapping forest dynamics with satellite imagery and segmentation models.

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Mustafizur Rahaman is a PhD student in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics. He earned his M.S. in the GIScience program from SLU in May 2025, then transferred to the PhD program. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering (2021) from North South University, Bangladesh, where he worked on performance evaluation of deep learning models on noisy remote sensing data. His interests include remote sensing, computer vision, and machine learning. He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2023. Dissertation title: Scalable Mapping of Forest Dynamics Using Satellite Imagery and Advanced Segmentation Models.

Bishal Roy

PhD Candidate

Researching geospatial foundation models for subsurface carbon prediction.

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Bishal Roy is a PhD Candidate in the Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics program. He earned his B.S. in Geography and Environmental Science from Begum Rokeya University (2022), Bangladesh, and joined the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2022, earning his M.S. in Geographic Information Science in May 2024. His doctoral research is broadly interested in remote sensing, precision agriculture, and machine learning, with a focus on soil carbon dynamics, geospatial foundation models, and physics-informed deep learning for subsurface property prediction. Dissertation: Generative Geospatial AI for Subsurface Prediction: A Unified Model for Terrestrial Carbon Monitoring.

Nirab Shrestha

PhD Student

Uses UAS and machine learning to monitor crop productivity.

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Nirab Shrestha is a Ph.D. student in Geoinformatics and Geospatial Analytics. He completed his bachelor's in Electrical and Electronics from Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel (2013), and a Master's in Climate Change and Development from the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk (2022). His past work involved modeling hydrological response to climate and glacier change in Nepal's Himalaya, and flood hazard mapping for the Bagmati and Karnali basins. His current research focuses on remote sensing, UAS, and machine learning for monitoring crop biophysical parameters and productivity. He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2023. Dissertation: TBD.

Anil Subedi

M.S. Student

Applies GeoAI to environmental and agricultural challenges.

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Anil Subedi is a master's student in the Geographic Information Science (GIS) program at Saint Louis University, started Spring 2026. He earned his bachelor's degree in Geomatics Engineering from Kathmandu University, Nepal. His research interests lie at the intersection of GeoAI and remote sensing for environmental and agricultural applications, and he enjoys collecting UAV datasets to support that research. Thesis: TBD.

Md Mahir Hasan

M.S. Student

Works on large-scale geospatial data analytics and cloud computing.

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Md Mahir Hasan is an M.S. student in the GIScience program. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering (2021) from North South University, Bangladesh, where he worked on object detection models for the healthcare sector, and later worked on IT core applications for a major telecom conglomerate. His research focuses on large-scale geospatial data analytics, remote sensing, and advanced cloud computing, integrating GPU-accelerated computing and spatial modeling for urban mobility and environmental monitoring. He joined the Remote Sensing Lab in August 2025. Thesis: TBD.

Lahana Maharjan

M.S. Student

Researching spatial approaches to public health challenges.

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Lahana Maharjan is an M.S. student in the Geographic Information Science (GIScience) program. She received her Bachelor's degree in Public Health from Tribhuvan University, Nepal (2022), and worked with the Ministry of Health and Population for two years on health research and policy analysis before joining SLU. Her research focuses on spatial health research, leveraging geospatial technologies to address public health challenges. Thesis: TBD.

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SINCE 2012

Alumni & Past Team Members

Past Research Scientists & Postdocs 10

Alifu Haireti (2021–2025) — Postdoc, then Geospatial Computing Engineer; precision agriculture and carbon monitoring. Ph.D., Chiba University.

Noor M. Al-Shakarji (2023–2024) — Postdoctoral Fellow; foundational model for soybean seed composition estimation. Ph.D., University of Missouri Columbia.

Rohit Pathak (2021) — Postdoctoral Fellow; remote sensing of crop nutrient and water-use efficiency. Ph.D., Mississippi State University.

Maitiniyazi Maimaitijiang (2020–2021) — Postdoc, then Remote Sensing & Imagery Scientist; UAV remote sensing, seed composition. Now Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University.

Nichole Gosselin (2019–2020) — Postdoctoral Fellow; ozone effects on agriculture, plant phenotyping and yield prediction.

Patrick Paheding (2017–2019) — Postdoc/Assistant Research Professor; machine learning, computer vision, deep learning. Ph.D., University of Dayton.

Matthew Maimaitiyiming (2018–2020, visiting postdoc) — Remote sensing of grapevine biophysical variables and abiotic stress.

Maria Librada Chu (2011–2013) — Post-doctoral fellow; climate change and hydrologic systems in the Midwestern U.S.

Abuduwanli Maiwulanjiang (2023–2024, Research Scientist) — Seed composition estimation using indoor hyperspectral sensing (now a current MS student, above).

Past Graduate Students 20+

Kevin Wells (2020–2026, PhD) — GeoAI-driven fusion of SAR, optical, and RF data for vessel detection and Arctic security. Employment: Government.

Supria Sarkar (2021–2025, PhD) — SeedAI for the Planet: AI and Planet imagery for global seed composition estimation.

Cagri Gul (2022–2024, MS) — InSAR monitoring of land subsidence due to coal mining. Now Geospatial Data Scientist, RSL@SLU.

Imran Said (2022–2024, MS) — Seed protein content estimation and genotype mapping with hyperspectral imaging.

Yahya Khan (2022–2024, MS) — Geographic Information Science.

Khair Bonsasa (2022–2024, MS) — Mapping underground root architecture with ground-penetrating radar. Employment: Missouri State GIS Office.

Juan Cruz Skobalski (2022–2023, MS) — Soybean yield prediction from multispectral UAV images with transfer learning. Employment: GDM Seeds.

Canh Nguyen (2020–2023, PhD) — Early plant disease detection using UAV and GeoAI. Now tenure-track Assistant Professor, Central Missouri University.

Sourav Bhadra (2020–2023, PhD) — Remote sensing, neural networks, and transfer learning for digital agricultural monitoring. Employment: Bayer Crop Science.

Aviskar Giri (2021–2023, MS) — Spillover effects of baseball games on local economy using mobility data.

Roberto Coral (2020–2022, MS) — Hyperfidelis software ecosystem for agricultural innovation. Employment: ESRI.

Caleb Buffa (2020–2021, MS) — Predicting terrorism in Western Europe with remote sensing and spatial statistics. Employment: ESRI.

Gizelle Cota (2018–2021, MS) — GeoAI for forest conservation, Betampona Nature Reserve, Madagascar.

Sean Hartling (2013–2020, PhD) — Urban tree species classification for utility outage forecasting.

Mason Maitiniyazi (2016–2020, PhD) — Multimodal remote sensing and machine learning for crop monitoring. Now Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University.

Kyle Peterson (2016–2019, MS/PhD) — Machine learning, data fusion, and cloud computing for water quality. Employment: Bayer Crop Science.

Aishanjiang Yasen (2018–2021, MS) — UAS-based sorghum growth monitoring using LiDAR, photogrammetry, and machine learning.

Stephen Leard (2017–2019, MS) — Immersive interfaces for remote sensing visualization. Employment: St. Louis Zoo.

Kevin Eblimit (2017–2018, MS) — UAV-based thermal imaging sensor comparison. Employment: ESRI.

David Ridge (2017–2019, MS) — Multi-modality remote sensing: UAS photogrammetry, airborne LiDAR, and InSAR.

Matthew Maimaitiyiming (2013–2018, PhD) — Multiscale remote sensing and machine learning for grapevine productivity. Employment: Bayer Crop Science.

Elizabeth Loesch (2015–2018, PhD) — Remote sensing and spatial statistics to characterize seismicity in Oklahoma. Employment: EPA.

Mark Grzovic (2013–2017, PhD) — Monitoring land subsidence in the Midwestern U.S. using multi-temporal InSAR.

Ethan J. Shavers (2013–2017, PhD) — Geochemistry and remote sensing of carbonatite-ultramafic intrusions. Employment: USGS.

Bethany Marshall (2015–2017, MS) — NASA-funded land surface albedo characterization for TEMPO. Employment: VerticalGeo.

Ben Bira (2014–2016, MS Sustainability). Employment: EPA.

Guzhaliayi Sataer (2015–2016) — Multiscale remote sensing for crop growth monitoring; continued to PhD at Western Michigan University.

Yuyan C. Jordan (2010–2013, PhD) — Surface water quality under climate and land-use change with SWAT modeling. Employment: Ameren.

Undergraduate Researchers since 2012

Kahaer Alafate (Spring/Summer 2015) — Field data and spectral/imagery processing on a NASA-funded project.

Laura L. Bernett (Spring 2015) — Ambient ozone effects on soybean nutrient concentration via field spectroscopy.

Liyang Yu (Spring 2015) — Mineral resource mapping in the Midwestern U.S.

Kirsten Butcher (Spring 2013) — GIS capstone on sustainable agriculture.

Timothy Barbeau (2013) — Changes in leaf area index attributed to aerosols.