UF/IFAS Center for Remote Sensing Director Shares International Research Insights with Global Fellows

The University of Florida International Center (UFIC) welcomed the 2026 Global Fellows cohort with an orientation session themed “International Research Resources at UF.” The event launched a new year of programming for UFIC’s Global Fellows Program, one of UFIC’s signature faculty development initiatives designed to help early-career faculty advance international research.

The Center for Remote Sensing (CRS) played a key role in the orientation. Dr. Jasmeet Judge, Director of CRS, shared insights from her experience leading large interdisciplinary research initiatives in remote sensing, agriculture, and water resources. She offered practical guidance on strategically leveraging seed funding to build sustainable, long-term international research programs.

This year, UFIC awarded 18 seed grants to faculty selected for the originality and potential impact of their proposals. Each fellowship includes $5,000 in seed funding to support foundational activities such as exploratory fieldwork, meetings with international collaborators, pilot data collection, and access to specialized resources. Dr. Judge emphasized that seed funding can generate critical pilot data, strengthen partnerships, and enhance competitiveness for major external grants. By aligning early-stage activities with a clear long-term vision, she noted, faculty can transform initial exploratory collaborations into durable, externally funded research networks. She also underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, strong institutional partnerships abroad, and effectively communicating the societal relevance of research outcomes.

CRS is supporting one faculty fellow in this year’s cohort, further strengthening the center’s engagement across UF departments and colleges while advancing global research development. The Center proudly supports Dr. Di Yang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences). Dr. Yang’s research advances GeoAI and remote sensing by integrating satellite Earth observations with citizen science data to improve environmental monitoring across scales. Her work combines deep learning, spatial statistics, and participatory sensing to detect fine-scale environmental changes often overlooked in traditional satellite analysis.

As a Global Fellow, Dr. Yang is expanding her research internationally through collaborations in Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Her project focuses on refining and validating GeoAI models across diverse ecological and socio-cultural contexts, while promoting data interoperability and inclusive research practices. The initiative also emphasizes capacity building by training local scientists and educators in Earth observation tools, machine learning methods, and participatory data collection to support long-term environmental resilience.