Eric Kashischke

Eric Kasischke is the Terrestrial Ecology Program Scientist in the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. He is a backup Program Scientist for the NISAR mission.

In his role as Program Scientist, Eric provides support to the Terrestrial Ecology Program, which supports basic scientific research to explore how remote sensing can help us understand and predict the impacts of global change on the biogeochemistry and productivity of vegetation. The research crosses the range of spatial scales from leaf to globe and investigates the development of new remote sensing capabilities for ecology, analyses of remote sensing time series, calibration and validation activities, process studies, and modeling and data assimilation. Over the next decade, the TE Program will support the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) in Alaska and northwestern Canada. ABoVE will integrate ecological studies at local scales with airborne and satellite remote sensing to understand the impacts of a changing climate on ecosystem processes, ecosystem services, and the potential human response.

Eric received a B.Sc. in natural resources, M.Sc. in remote sensing, and a PhD in forest ecology and remote sensing, all from the University of Michigan, where he also received the Samuel A. Graham Award for the top PhD Dissertation in Forestry. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Biogeography at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has also held an adjunct appointment at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he has been a senior investigator on the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research project. Prior to joining NASA, he co-chaired the ABoVE Science Definition Team, which produced the ABoVE Concise Experiment Plan.