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2026
2026
High Schoolers Present Summer Research on Artificial Light at Night (ALAN)
July 2, 2026
After weeks of hands on research, two high school interns, Brendan (mentored by Yi) and Jayci (mentored by Xiuyi), showcased their summer research on ALAN, presenting projects on tree phenology and spatial light exposure assessment.
During the poster session, both students confidently explained their research to faculty, graduate students, and fellow participants. Their posters attracted many visitors and sparked thoughtful discussions, with attendees asking a wide range of questions about their methods, findings, and the broader implications of their work. We congratulate Brendan and Jayci on their successful presentations and thank Yi and Xiuyi for their excellent mentorship throughout the summer.
Yi (left) and Brendan (right) at the Summer Research Symposium.
Jayci (left) and Xiuyi (right) at the Summer Research Symposium.
Xiuyi Presented at the CESM Land Model Working Group in Boulder, Colorado
June 15, 2026
Xiuyi gave an oral presentation on her research, “Modeling Edge Effects and Post-fire Legacies on Carbon and Water Fluxes in the Amazon with ELM-FATES,” at the 2026 CESM Workshop in Boulder, Colorado. The meeting convened a global community of Earth system scientists and modelers from NCAR and other organizations to discuss the latest advancements in community climate modeling.
Xiuyi has been working with the FATES model for the past two years, making this presentation an excellent opportunity to share her latest findings, receive feedback from the modeling community, and connect with researchers working on land surface and Earth system modeling. We are excited to see her work contribute to ongoing efforts to improve the understanding of tropical forest dynamics.
Welcoming SSMV Summer High School Interns
May 26, 2026
This summer, we are excited to host two talented high school students from School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt (SSMV) as interns in the Meng Lab. Brendan Cox is investigating how streetlights influence plant phenology and physiology. As part of the project, Brendan is conducting weekly field measurements on campus to track plant responses under different lighting conditions. Jayci Washington is exploring the exposure of urban trees to artificial light at night (ALAN) across cities in the United States and around the world. The project combines geospatial analysis and environmental data in Google Earth Engine to better understand ALAN effects at multiple scales. We look forward to supporting their research experiences and seeing what they discover in the months ahead.
Lin Presented at the IALE 40th Anniversary Meeting in Athens, Georgia
April 27, 2026
Lin Meng presented work, “Artificial Light at Night Extends Growing Seasons across Coupled Human–Natural Landscapes,” at the 40th Anniversary Meeting of IALE–North America (International Association for Landscape Ecology, North American Regional Chapter) in Athens, Georgia.
Founded in 1986, IALE–North America is the largest regional chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology and serves as a leading professional organization for advancing the science and practice of landscape ecology. The 2026 meeting celebrated four decades of research and collaboration in the field. The conference was held in Athens, the same city that hosted IALE–North America's first annual meeting in 1986, making the 40th anniversary gathering especially meaningful. As a first-time attendee, Lin enjoyed the opportunity to share her work, engage with researchers, and learn about the latest developments in landscape ecology.
Xiuyi Received 2026 Vanderbilt Award for Doctoral Discovery (VADD)
April 24, 2026
Xiuyi has been selected to receive the 2026 Vanderbilt Award for Doctoral Discovery (VADD). This award provides important support for her summer research activities, including attendance at the CESM conference and a field trip to the Tanguro field station in the Amazon.
After spending the past two years running simulations and studying Amazon forest dynamics with Earth system models, Xiuyi is excited to finally see the ecosystem in person. Visiting the Amazon will provide a valuable opportunity to connect model predictions with real-world observations and gain a deeper understanding of the forests she has been studying from behind a computer screen. The award recognizes Xiuyi's research achievements and will help support her continued growth as a scientist through both field and modeling experiences.
Meng Lab Volunteerd at the ESI Booth during Earth Day
April 18, 2026
Lin and Xiuyi participated in Vanderbilt's 2026 Earth Day celebration by volunteering at the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) booth at Centennial Park and engaging with visitors about ecology research and sustainability. Xiuyi shared, “This Earth Day event was my first volunteering experience in the U.S., and it was incredibly rewarding. I enjoyed sharing the lab's research with community members, and their enthusiasm and encouragement reminded me how important it is to communicate science beyond academia. The energy of the event was amazing, and I really enjoyed connecting with people from different backgrounds.”
After spending the day talking with visitors, Lin and Xiuyi left with plenty of new outreach ideas, including interactive 3D models that could help people visualize seasonal plant changes and better appreciate the importance of the Amazon rainforest.
Check out ESI Facebook on Earth Day post here!
Lin Named ESA Early Career Fellow
April 15, 2026
Lin Meng has been named an Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America in 2026.
This recognition reflects her contributions to ecology and her growing impact in the field. Early Career Fellows are selected within eight years of completing their doctoral training and are recognized for advancing ecological knowledge and its applications, as well as for their potential to continue making significant contributions across areas represented by ESA. The fellowship is held for five years. Lin is grateful for the support, mentorship, and collaboration of colleagues and collaborators that have shaped her work!
Check out Vanderbilt social media coverage on Instagram, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Xiuyi Advanced to PhD Candidacy
April 10, 2026
Xiuyi Wu successfully passed her PhD Qualifying Exam and officially became a PhD candidate today!
This important milestone marks the transition to full-time dissertation research and reflects her hard work and dedication during the early years of her doctoral training. Her dissertation research focuses on understanding how edge effects, fire, and climate interact to influence the vulnerability of tropical forests. Xiuyi shared, “I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Meng, my committee members, my lab members, and all graduate students in EES for their invaluable guidance and support throughout this process.”
Congratulations, Xiuyi, on this significant achievement!
Xingyi Successfully Defended Master's Thesis
April 9, 2026
Xingyi Huang successfully defended his master's thesis, “A Turning Point in Autumn Phenology under Changing Temperature–Precipitation Regimes,” and earned his M.S. degree.
His research combined satellite remote sensing data with ground-based observations to examine how changing temperature and precipitation regimes influence the timing of the end of the growing season across the Northern Hemisphere. The study provides new insights into how ecosystems respond to interacting thermal and water constraints in a changing climate.
As part of the M.S. to Ph.D. track, Xingyi will continue his doctoral studies and expand on this line of research. We look forward to seeing his future contributions to understanding vegetation responses to climate change. Congratulations, Xingyi, on this important milestone.
Rethinking Urban Heat in a Warming World
March 16, 2026
Will cities keep getting hotter? Our new PNAS Nexus study led by Huidong Li suggests the answer is more nuanced than often assumed.
Analyzing 36 major cities, the study finds that urban heat is not increasing uniformly. In many city centers, expanding vegetation is helping to slow warming. At the same time, suburban growth is often replacing vegetated land, leading to faster warming at the urban fringe. These contrasting trends are reshaping the classic urban heat island pattern. Rather than a sharp temperature difference between urban cores and surrounding areas, the gradient is flattening, with heat becoming more widespread across the landscape. The findings point to a clear opportunity. How cities grow, and how they manage vegetation, can play a meaningful role in shaping future urban climate.
Evolution of urban heat island (UHI) patterns driven by urban expansion and changes in vegetation across four urban development pathways. Areas that become greener show reduced UHI, while areas losing vegetation experience increasing heat. Over time, the contrast between urban cores and surrounding areas becomes less pronounced, with heat spreading more broadly across the landscape. From Li et al. 2026.
New Paper Linking Light Pollution to Longer Allergy Seasons
January 20, 2026
A new study led by Brandt Geist, published in PNAS Nexus, shows that artificial light at night can extend allergy seasons by several weeks and increase the number of days with high allergenic pollen exposure.
Focusing on the northeastern United States, the work finds that areas with higher levels of nighttime light experience longer growing seasons, which in turn prolongs pollen release and intensifies exposure. The study highlights an underrecognized pathway through which urban environments shape human health, linking light pollution to ecological processes and public health outcomes. It adds to a growing body of research showing how human-driven changes to the environment can alter seasonal dynamics in ways that directly affect daily life.
Media coverage:
Science News Explores. Light pollution could be supercharging your pollen allergies. [here]
2025
2025
Meng Lab presented at the 2025 AGU Fall Meeting
December 15, 2025
Members of the Meng Lab shared their latest research at the 2025 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, presenting work on urban ecology, tropical ecosystems, and plant phenology.
Lin delivered an invited talk in the Urban Science session titled "Brighter Nights, Longer Seasons: Artificial Light Reshapes Plant Phenology." The presentation synthesized findings from a series of studies conducted by the lab over the past several years, highlighting how ALAN alters the timing of seasonal plant development across urban landscapes. Xiuyi presented an oral presentation, "Modeling Edge Effects and Post-fire Recovery on Carbon and Water Fluxes in the Amazon with FATES," in the NGEE Tropics session, talking about modeling efforts to better understand tropical forest responses to disturbance and recovery. Xingyi presented a poster, "Causal AI Reveals Tipping Point of Autumn Phenology Regulated by Climate and Intra-season Phenology," in the Phenology session. Beyond the scientific sessions, the team also enjoyed the warm winter weather and vibrant atmosphere of New Orleans while attending one of the largest gatherings of Earth and space scientists.
Xiuyi presented her research on Amazon edge-fire impact
Xingyi presents his poster on autumn phenology
Meng Lab Students Present at the 2025 EES Graduate 3MT
Oct 30, 2025
Xiuyi, Xingyi, and Yi participated in the 2025 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) Graduate Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation, an annual event that challenges graduate students to present their research in just three minutes to a broad audience.
This year's event came with a Halloween twist. Participants and attendees showed up in creative costumes, adding plenty of fun to an afternoon of impressive research presentations.
Xiuyi Attended the FLUXNET-ECN Workshop: Integrating Flux Data and Land Surface Modeling
August 15, 2025
Xiuyi attended the FLUXNET Early Career Scientist Network (ECN) Workshop at the University of California, Berkeley. The workshop provided hands-on training in processing flux tower data and offered valuable insights into how these observations can be integrated with land surface and Earth system models. Xiuyi shared, “Learning directly from experts in the field helped strengthen my understanding of the connections between ecological measurements and modeling approaches, and gave me practical skills that I can apply to my own research.”
Gengke presented at the VSEC symposium
August 13, 2025
Gengke Lai gave a poster presentation, titled “Climate-vegetation-fire interactions: mechanisms, feedbacks, and human-driven amplification”, at the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate (VSEC) inaugural symposium. The presentation combined three main works: vegetation greening amplifies global wildfires by increasing litterfall, earlier vegetation summer phenology amplifies global wildfires by intensifying heat and drought, human- and forest edge-driven amplification of Amazon forest fires. These works provide new insights into the complex interactions and feedbacks among climate, vegetation, human activity, and wildfires in a changing climate.
Welcoming New Members
August 1, 2025
The Meng Lab is excited to welcome three new members who joined the group in August 2025.
Jialing Li joined the lab as a Postdoctoral Scholar. Her current research expands the concept of phenology to the Earth system, exploring phenological dynamics across interconnected Earth processes and scales. Gengke Lai joined the lab as a Postdoctoral Scholar. His research focuses on wildfire in the wildland-urban interface, investigating wildfire patterns, underlying mechanisms, and adaptation strategies in a changing climate. Yi He joined the lab as a PhD student. Her research focuses on field based studies of plant phenology, with an emphasis on understanding how artificial light affects different phenophases. Welcome!
Xingyi and Xiuyi Received Vanderbilt ESI Pilot Research Grant
June 1, 2025
Congratulations to both Xiuyi and Xingyi, who received Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) Pilot Research Grant to support their Ph.D. research. The ESI Pilot Research Grant program provides seed funding for innovative research projects with an evolutionary theme. The program is designed to help researchers generate preliminary data, foster interdisciplinary collaborations, and lay the foundation for larger externally funded projects. We look forward to seeing the exciting discoveries that emerge from their research.
2024
2024
Xingyi presented at the 2024 AGU Fall Meeting
December 9, 2024
Xingyi presented a poster on his research ' at the 2024 AGU Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C. 9 - 13 December 2024.
2024 EES Graduate 3MT
Oct 20, 2024
Xiuyi, Xingyi, and Brandt presented their research in the 2024 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) Graduate Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation.
Light Pollution Ecology Session at the 2024 ESA Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA
August 6, 2024
At the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting 2024 in Long Beach, California, Lin Meng organized an oral session (OOS) "Ecological consequences of light pollution". The session brought together six researchers working on light pollution and ecosystem processes, creating space for focused discussion and exchange.
Within this session, Brandt Geist presented his work, “Towards a Darker Sky: The Efficacy of Mitigation Strategies for Artificial Light at Night and Its Impact on Plant Phenology.” The ESA conference provided a valuable opportunity for Brandt to share his findings with the scientific community, gain feedback from experts in the field, and engage in discussions on the latest advances in ecology and environmental science. A short visit to the beach after the session provided a welcome break!
Welcoming New Members
August 1, 2024
The Meng Lab is excited to welcome Xiuyi Wu and Xingyi Huang, who joined the lab at the Fall 2024. Xiuyi began her PhD research on modeling the impacts of forest edges and wildfire on Amazon ecosystems using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES). Her work aims to improve our understanding of how tropical forests respond to disturbance and environmental change. Xingyi joined the lab on the MS to PhD track, to investigate how autumn phenology responds to climate change, with a particular focus on nonlinear responses.
To celebrate the beginning of the new academic year, members of the Meng Lab and Jorge's Lab gathered for a welcome dinner at Sadie's, where everyone enjoyed Mediterranean food. We look forward to an exciting year of research and collaboration!
Lin Visited Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff
April 9, 2024
Lin Meng visited Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to give a talk in the Ecoinformatics Seminar, hosted by the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss). The visit happened during the solar eclipse, which made the trip especially memorable and brought a lively atmosphere to campus!
She spent time with Andrew Richardson, a longtime collaborator, and met with faculty, postdocs, and graduate students at Ecoss. The conversations were wide-ranging, from ongoing projects to new ideas around ecosystem dynamics.
Outside of meetings, Lin briefly explored Walnut Canyon National Monument. The canyon landscape, set against snow-covered mountains, was striking and offered a quiet moment.
2023
2023
2022
2022
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