Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Institute for Artificial Intelligence Dr. Yaping Xu is a geographer and remote sensing scientist whose research integrates remote sensing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and GIS to address challenges in agriculture and sustainable land management. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from Louisiana State University in 2019, where he studied soil moisture mapping using remote sensing data. Following his Ph.D., Dr. Xu conducted postdoctoral research at Arizona State University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and held an Early Career Fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research during this period focused on applying UAV-based remote sensing and machine learning to agricultural and bioenergy systems. Before joining the University of Georgia, Dr. Xu was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geosciences at Sam Houston State University, where he taught courses in GIS, cartography, remote sensing, spatial analysis, and UAV remote sensing. He also served as principal investigator of a NASA-funded project advancing geospatial and remote sensing technologies for agricultural applications. Dr. Xu joined the University of Georgia in 2026 as a faculty member in the Department of Geography. His current research develops AI-enabled approaches for extracting information from complex remote sensing and geospatial data, with applications in crop monitoring, soil health, precision agriculture, and agro-ecosystem dynamics. Dr. Xu is a member of the American Association of Geographers and has served as a reviewer, editorial contributor, and federal research grant panelist. Education: Louisiana State University, Ph.D. in Geography: 08/2019Dissertation: Mapping Soil Moisture from Remotely Sensed and In-situ Data with Statistical Methods;Committee: Lei Wang (chair), Edward Bush, Barry Keim, Bin Li, Robert RohliSupported by the Louisiana State University Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, M.S. Cartography and GIS: 01/2013Thesis: Long Time Series Remote Sensing Monitoring and Analysis on Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites-Case Study on Dunhuang Oasis and Sumatra Rainforest;Advisor: Changlin Wang and Xinyuan Wang Guizhou University, China, B.E. in Geographic Information System: 07/2009 Research Research Interests: My research develops and applies remote sensing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and geospatial technologies to understand agricultural and environmental systems. I am particularly interested in integrating UAV-based imagery, satellite observations, and other geospatial data with AI and spatial-temporal modeling to extract actionable information from complex environmental datasets. My research focuses on crop monitoring and phenotyping, soil health and moisture, precision agriculture, and agro-ecosystem dynamics. I also investigate AI-driven image analysis, computer vision, and emerging geospatial foundation models for environmental applications. More broadly, my work seeks to connect advances in geospatial data science with real-world challenges in sustainable agriculture, environmental change, and land management. UAV and Drone Remote Sensing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Computer Vision and Image Analysis Geospatial Data Science Precision Agriculture Crop Monitoring and Plant Phenotyping Soil Moisture and Soil Health Agro-ecosystem Modeling Spatio-temporal Modeling
