Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Centre for Global Change and Earth Observations (CGCEO)
Email : kashongw@msu.edu
Office : Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Rd, Room 101E, East Lansing, MI 48824
Member of MSU David P. Roy Lab
Nature-based solutions (i.e., REDD+)
Tropical forest structure and biomass estimation
Forest regrowth
Active and passive remote sensing
Programming (Python and R)
LiDAR (GEDI and ALS) data processing
GIS
2019 – 2023: Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Studies, Michigan State University (MSU)
2017 – 2019: Master of Science in Geographic Information Science, South Dakota State University (SDSU)
2004 – 2010: Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering, University of Kinshasa
2019 – 2021 : Graduate Certificate in Forest Carbon Science and Management, Department of Forestry, Michigan State University
Cho, M-S., Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Yan, L., & Shen, M. 2025. Assessment and improvement of GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests, Science of Remote Sensing, 11, 100221.
Shirkey, G., Anctil, A., John, R., Kolluru, V., Mungai, L., Kashongwe, H.B., ... & Chen, J. 2024. Identifying opportunities for nature-based solutions with geospatialized life cycle assessments and fine-scale socioecological data. Environmental Research Letters, 20, 014023.
Kashongwe, H.B., Roy, D.P., & Skole, D.L. 2023. Examination of the amount of GEDI data required to characterize central Africa tropical forest aboveground biomass at REDD+ project scale in Mai Ndombe province. Science of Remote Sensing, 7, 100091.
Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., & Armston, J. 2021. The impact of geolocation uncertainty on GEDI tropical forest canopy height estimation and change monitoring. Science of Remote Sensing, 4, 100024.
Zhong, S., Wang,T., Sciusco,P., Shen, M., Pei,L., Nikolic,J., McKeehan, K., Kashongwe, H.B., Hatami‐Bahman‐Beiglou, P., Camacho,K., Akanga,D., Charney,J., & Bian,X. 2021. Will land use land cover change drive atmospheric conditions to become more conducive to wildfires in the United States?. International Journal of Climatology, 1-20.
Kashongwe, H.B., Roy, D.P., & Bwangoy, J-R.B. 2020. Democratic Republic of the Congo tropical forest canopy height and aboveground biomass estimation with Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and airborne LiDAR data: the effect of seasonal Landsat image selection. Remote Sensing, 12(9), 1360.
Roy, D.P., Cho, M., Kashongwe, H.B., Bwangoy, J.R. 2025. Assessing central Africa tropical forest carbon using ground-based inventory & Sentinel-2 tree height deep learning, A-CG35 Global Carbon Cycle Observation and Analysis, Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan, May 25-30 2025.
Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Cho, M., Skole, D., Bwangoy, J.R. 2025. Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth, GEDI Science Team Meeting, University of Maryland, 4600 River Road, Riverdale, MD, 1-3 April 2025.
Cho, M.S., Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B. 2024. Significantly improved GEDI canopy height estimation in tropical and temperate forests by Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) surface and then canopy height calibration. Session: Advances in Tracking Global Change: Insights from NASA’s Satellite Laser Altimetry Missions (ICESat, ICESat-2, and GEDI) and the Path to EDGE I Poster. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2024, Washington-DC, USA.
Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Cho, M.S., Skole,D., Bwangoy, J.R. 2024. Combining GEDI, satellite forest cover loss maps, and airborne remote sensing to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth and carbon sequestration. Session: Global Carbon Cycle Observation and Analysis (A-CG35). Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2024, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
Shirkey, G., John, R., Anctil, A., Kolluru, V., Mungai, L., Kashongwe, H.B., Cooper, L., Celik, I., Chen, J. 2023. Carbon Offset Potential of Midwest Agroecosystems: A Spatialized Life-Cycle Assessment Framework. Session: Atmospheric, Ocean, and Land Biogeochemistry in Global Environmental Change Poster. AGU Fall Meeting 2023, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Skole, D. 2023. The amount of GEDI data required to characterize central Africa tropical forest aboveground biomass at REDD+ project scale, a Mai Ndombe province analysis, SilviLaser 2023 Conference, University College London, U.K.
Kashongwe, H.B., Roy, D.P., Skole, D.L. 2022. An Examination of the Amount of GEDI Data Required to Reliably Characterize Central Africa Tropical Forest Aboveground Biomass at REDD+ Project. Session: Applications of Earth Observations for Addressing Environmental and Development Challenges in Africa I Poster. AGU Fall Meeting 2022, Chicago, IL, USA.
Kashongwe, H.B. 2019. Estimates of Forest Canopy Height and Aboveground Biomass using Airborne LiDAR and Landsat-8 OLI data in Mai Ndombe Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting 2019, Washington - DC, USA.
Roy, D.P., Kashongwe, H.B., Cho, M.S., Using GEDI data to improve understanding of species-specific central Africa tropical forest regrowth. Funded by NASA NNH23ZDA001N-GEDI Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Science Team program.
08/2019 – 12/2023 : Teaching & Research Assistant, Geography Department, MSU, USA
08/2017 – 07/2019 : Teaching & Research Assistant, Geography and Spatial Sciences Department, SDSU, USA
05/2018 – 08/2018 : Research Assistant, Geospatial Science Center of Excellence (GSCE), SDSU, USA
06/2017 – 08/2017 : GIS Specialist, Maphubs Inc, Washington DC, USA
07/2013 – 07/2016 : GIS Project Coordinator, OSFAC (Central African Satellite Observatory of Forest), DR. Congo
2024 - Present: Member of the NASA GEDI Competed Science Team