Biography
Dr. Yushu Xia is a soil scientist with an overall research goal to promote environmental sustainability, enhance ecosystem productivity and biodiversity, and mitigate climate change by improving soil management. Her research leverages multi-source datasets (e.g., field, lab, survey/literature, infrared spectroscopy, remote sensing) and modeling tools (both empirical and process-based) to improve the evaluation of soil health and the associated ecosystem service outcomes, such as carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, water dynamics, and ecosystem productivity. She conducted her postdoc research at Woodwell Climate Research Center, where she led the development of the Rangeland Carbon Tracking and Monitoring (RCTM) system. Prior to that, she obtained her Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where her research focused on examining and modeling soil organic carbon, nitrous oxide emissions, and soil moisture under different cropland management practices at various spatial scales.