Jiang Li

• Since Aug. 2024: Ph.D. Student, School of Geosciences, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Research interest: Jiang's research focuses on biogeochemical cycling in estuaries and the coastal ocean using an integrated approach that combines satellite remote sensing, field observations, and AI technologies. Jiang is currently supported by two projects under Dr. Bingqing Liu (PI), including an NSF project, “AI for Geosciences: Ocean Color Applications”, and NASA’s EMIT hyperspectral mission, focusing on hyperspectral observations in inland, estuarine, and coastal systems. His research involves developing, testing, and validating AI-based remote sensing algorithms for biogeochemical parameters such as sediments, colored dissolved organic matter, and phytoplankton-related metrics. Jiang also deploys these algorithms to study extreme events in coastal systems and their causes and consequences. I was also selected as a participant in the NASA PACE Hackweek.

Publications:

1. Li, J., Liu, B*., Lou, J., Yuan, X., D'Sa, E., Baustian, M. M., ... & Habib, E. (2026). Short-Term Estuarine Phytoplankton Dynamics in Response to Hurricanes Along the Gulf Coast: A Global Variational Autoencoder (Gvae) Approach with Satellite and Bio-Optical Observations. Available at SSRN 5261440. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC023274

2. Bai, X., Liu, B*., Li, J., Xiong, Y., D'Sa, E., Baustian, M. M., ... & Yuan, X. (2026). Hyperspectral Retrieval of Phytoplankton Absorption and Community Composition from NASA’s PACE-OCI in Estuarine–Coastal Waters using a Hybrid Framework Combining Mixture-of-Experts and Variational Autoencoder, Remote Sensing of Environment, 337 (2026) 115327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115327

3. Wang, W., Liu, B*., Gao, S., Li, J., Zhou, Y., Zhang, S., & Ding, Z. (2025). PhA-MOE: Enhancing Hyperspectral Retrievals for Phytoplankton Absorption Using Mixture-of-Experts. Remote Sensing, 17(12), 2103. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17122103

Coy A LeBlanc

• Since Aug. 2024: Ph.D. Student, School of Geosciences, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Research interest: Coy’s research focuses on seagrass and freshwater submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), a major group of primary producers that plays a critical role in coastal carbon storage and habitat provision. 

Coy has studied submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) across diverse environments, including the turbid waters of the Atchafalaya Delta (Louisiana) through a project funded by the NASA EMIT program, and mixed seagrass beds around the Chandeleur Islands (Louisiana) through a NOAA RESTORE-funded seagrass project. She integrates field observations, satellite remote sensing, and machine learning approaches to develop products that map seagrass distribution and assess environmental stressors such as storms, turbidity, and heat stress. Her work advances understanding of SAV resilience and vulnerability under climate change and restoration scenarios. 

Publications: coming soon!

Nirmal Raila

• Since Aug. 2024: Ph.D. Student, School of Geosciences, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Research interest: 

Nirmal’s research focuses on bio-optical properties in highly optically complex waters to derive information about lower trophic levels of aquatic food webs. Part of his work is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey under Grant/Cooperative Agreement No. G24AC00256-00. Nirmal has performed exceptional field campaigns, acquiring high-quality bio-optical measurements in CDOM-rich and highly turbid waters of the Barataria Estuary, Louisiana. 

He also utilizes very high spatial resolution small-satellite data, such as PlanetScope, to investigate river–estuary interactions, biogeochemical processes, and their responses to extreme events, including river flooding in swamp systems. This portion of his research is supported by a NSF project (link), "Reversing Disproportionate Climate Impacts through Equity-Oriented Flood Prediction, Socio-Economic Analysis, and Adaptation Planning". 

Publications: coming soon!

Shiwani Shrestha

• Aug. 2023- May 2025: Mater Student, School of Geosciences, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Research interest: Shiwani studied water quality and phytoplankton biomass dynamics in Lake Pontchartrain using bio-optical observations and multispectral satellite data from Sentinel-2 MSI. She evaluated the performance of Sentinel-2 MSI for retrieving chlorophyll-a and compared it with hyperspectral observations from PACE, as presented in her recent publication (Shrestha et al., 2026).

Shiwani has recently been admitted to the Ph.D. program in Geography at The Ohio State University.

Publications: 

1. Shrestha, S., Liu, B*., Li, J., Huang, W., Baustian, M. M., D'Sa, E. J., ... & Mize, S. (2026). Phytoplankton Biomass Dynamics in Wet (2019) and Dry (2023) Years in Lake Pontchartrain Estuary, Louisiana from Sentinel 2-MSI and PACE-OCI Observations. Science of The Total Environment, 1011, 181126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.181126