Present and Past Group Members

Xiaodong Zhang

B.S. Computer Science, Nanjing University, China - 1989
M.S. Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Canada - 1998
Ph. D. Oceangraphy, Dalhousie University, Canada - 2002

I am an Endowed Chair and Professor with the Division of Marine Science, School of Ocean Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). Before joining USM in 2019, I had been a professor with University of North Dakota for 17 years. A central theme of my research is to study natural aquatic environment through optical observation. The research conducted in my lab involves theoretical development in light scattering and radiative transfer, and novel applications of optics to quantify and characterize various constituents in the aquatic environment. The research approach ranges from modeling, to lab and field experiments, and to satellite data analysis and interpretation.

Lucas Barbedo de Freitas

Lucas is a Research Associate working on integrating the optical sensors with uncrewed autonomous surface vessel for developing and validating algorithms for correcting bidirectional reflectance distribution for the next generation satellite.

Yuanheng Xiong

A PhD student, Yuanheng Xiong investigates submicron particles in the ocean and their optical effect on ocean color. In the picture, he watches the sunrise from the back deck of the R/V Sally Ride as it leaves port in Seattle (Credits: Alex Niebergall)

Alex Butland

A M.S. student, Alex Butland develops a method to merge four estimates of phytoplankton size classes from ocean color data.

Haitian Xie

A M.S. student, Haitian Xie applies the triple colocation approach to evaluate the performance of three algorithms inferring phytoplankton size classes from ocean color data.

Thomas Wissing

A new Ph.D. student, Thomas Wissing is still developing his research.

David Safari

A new Ph.D. student, David is still developing his research.

Megha Devakumar

Ph.D. student working particle size distribution.

Michael Kamowski

A new M.S. student, Mike is still developing his research. His interest is is on investigating the role that climate change has in altering the deep ocean ecosystems.

Previous Members

Dr. Lianbo Hu

Postdoctoral Research Associate from June 2018 to Aug 2020, Dr. Lianbo Hu is currently a Senior Research Scientist with Ocean University of China.

Dr. Carina Poulin

Postdoctoral Research Associate from April 2019 to April 2020, Dr. Carina Poulin is currently a postdoctoral fellow with Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

Dr. Shuangyan He

Postdoctoral Research Associate from September 2015 to August 2017, Dr. Shuangyan He is currently an Associate Professor with Zhejiang University.

Dr. Tikaram Neupane

Postdoctoral Research Associate from Aug. 2020 - July 2021, Dr. Tikaram Neupane, currently is Assistant Professor of Physics with University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Dr. Srikanth Ayyala Somayajula

Postdoctoral Research Fellow from October 2020 to October 2021.

Dr. Wai Wah Ng

Postdoctoral fellow from July 2015 to July 2018, Dr. Wai Wah Ng is currently an Assistant Professor with Lakehead University, Canada.

Dr. Afshin Shabani

Former PhD student, Dr. Afshin Shabani is currently a Post-doctoral fellow with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mr. Mojtaba Shahabi

Former M.S. student, Mojtaba Shahabi examines the effect of wind direction on surface reflectance.

Dr. Jiexia Wu

Former MS student, Dr. Jiexia Wu.

Dr. Santosh Rijal

Former MS student, Dr. Santosh Rijal is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor with Virginia Tech.

Dr. Tedros M. Berhane

Former MS student, Dr. Tedros M. Berhane is a spatial data scientist with PTS.

Junyu Yang

Former MS student.

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