Landscape Ecology
& Ecosystem Science

Jiquan Chen, Ph.D.
Professor

Editor-in-Chief, Ecological Processes
(https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/)

A native of Shanxi in Northern China, Dr. Chen received his undergraduate education in grassland ecology (Inner Mongolia University), MS in forest ecology (Chinese Academy of Sciences), and PhD in Ecosystem Analysis (University of Washington). His postdoc training was in the stream ecology and ecosystem management.  He was a Bullard Fellow at Harvard University (1999-2000).  He was on the faculty at Michigan Tech University (1993-2001) and University of Toledo (2001-2014).

His research and academic instruction programs are on ecosystem processes and their interactive feedbacks to the biophysical and human activities, including community ecology to 3-D canopy structure, forest fragmentation, edge effects, riparian zone, conservation biology, landscape ecology, and micrometeorology.  His current research lies in the coupled effects of global climate change and human activities on terrestrial ecosystems, global change ecology, bioenergy, and carbon/water fluxes.  He will be teaching special topics on coupled human and natural systems, micrometeorological instrumentation & measurementsm, image processing and GIS, and global change science.  He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 2011) and a fellow of Ecological Society of America (ESA, 2014).  Dr. Chen is also the Editor-in-Chief for two book series: 1) Landscape Ecology (Springer); and 2) Ecosystem Science and Application –ESA (HEP & De Gruyter).  He is the founder and chief scientist of the US-China Carbon Consortium (USCCC).  He enjoys Thai Chi practice and Buddha Meditation. He is also a member of the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEBB) Graduate Program, the Environmental Science & Policy Program (ESPP), and the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at MSU.

E-Mail:  jqchen@msu.edu
Phone: 517-884-1884

Michael Abraha, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

My research interest lies in measuring and modeling the physical processes involved in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, with a special focus on energy and mass exchange measurement between surfaces (bare soil, vegetated, wet-lands and/or water) and the atmosphere using micrometeorological methods. I am interested in investigating energy balance closure using eddy covariance measured fluxes; and also the influence of land-use and climate changes on heat, carbon dioxide, water vapor and other trace gas fluxes.

My previous studies concentrated on measurement and modeling of crop growth and development, soil water balance, solar radiation and its interception by shrubs, and evapotranspiration from sparse trees. I was also involved in investigating inexpensive means of estimating sensible heat flux from high frequency air temperature measurements.

E-Mail: abraha@msu.edu
Phone: 249-290-9766

Yi (Angela) Fan
PhD Student

I’m involved in an integrated research on the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of photovoltaic technology and its production.  The study is divided into Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing, Social Life Cycle Assessment, and comprehensive structural equation modeling (SEM). To accomplish the assessment, structural equation modeling will be intensive used in the research.  My goal is to explore innovative and efficient PV pipelines to meet the growing and changing demands for efficient PV technology and production, renewable energy, and ecosystem services for society and to examine how existing trade-offs differ from other energy revenues.

E-Mail: fanyi2@msu.edu
Phone: 419-215-6803

Ranjeet John, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

My research interests focus on the applications of Remote Sensing and GIS technologies to study biophysical attributes of the earth's surface at varying scales. I am currently working on a NASA funded project titled 'Effects of Land Use Change on the Energy and Water Balance of the Semi-Arid Region of Inner Mongolia'.

E-Mail: ranjeetj@msu.edu
Phone: 517-224-6675

Zutao Ouyang
Ph.D. Student

My former research focused on mapping and investigating invasive plants in wetlands (such as Spartina alterniflora in east coast of China) by remote sensing techniques and GIS. Currently, my research interest has moved on to carbon fluxes of terrestrial ecosystems, as I think carbon related problems such as greenhouse gases, carbon storage and cycling , and so on are core issues of global climate change. I love science, but I also like many other things, like cycling, swimming, playing ping-pong and reading.  

E-Mail: yangzuta@msu.edu
Phone: 567-225-7112

Hogeun Park
Ph.D. Student

Hogeun is current Ph.D student in MSU and active member of LEES lab at CGCEO. Currently he is incharge of synthesis study for accounting for urbanization and couple human nature. Before joining this research, he studied social capital and network contingent on local development project. During master course, he succefully did international research workshops as a member of Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL) and did internship in social science division at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). His first professional career is Cooperation Agent at KOrea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), from 2008 to 2010, he worked in both pelileo and saquisili city hall as a GIS specialist at Ecuador

E-Mail: parkhoge@msu.edu
Phone: 517-755-9475

Changliang Shao, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

My research interests aimed at understanding human-environment interactions through a focus on land-use and land-cover changes through using eddy covariance technique in grassland ecosystems: from observation to data analysis of carbon, water and energy fluxes. I have been the one maintaining two mobile flux towers in Inner Mongolia for 3 years and opened the eddy covariance data in public via internet. Recent work has used two mobile eddy flux towers to study different disturbance ecosystems under the same environment, which is valuable for modeling precision, and contribute us to understand the underlying effect mechanism through different management types. I have served the NASA LCLUC Science Team, the NSFC and the Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2009 I was elected fellow of the US-China Carbon Consortium (USCCC).

E-Mail: clshao@msu.edu
Phone: 517-974-1750

Gabriela Shirkey,
Reseach Technologist I

A native Michigander, I joined the LEES lab in 2015 as a Laboratory Technician with interests in the Great Lakes Region and the relationship between conservation strategies and local communities. My current work includes copy editing and website management for the lab. Previously, I worked on an environmental research experience with Michigan Technological University where a team and I studied the role social influence plays in land use decision making and conservation practices. Since, I have worked within international business, communications and marketing for both engineers and non profits.

E-Mail: geshirkey@gmail.com
Phone:

Yahn-Jauh Su
Ph.D. Student

My research interest focuses on the relationship between the metabolism of ecosystems and the environmental regimes and how the relationship responds to human land use and climate change.  I would like to explore the relationship from both ecosystem and community perspectives.  The former concentrates on the intrinsic mechanisms within a community, such as how biodiversity, foodweb structure, community dynamics and the species interactions adapt to environmental regimes and maintain the stability of the system while latter focuses on the energy and material transfer and flux within and between ecosystems and their adjacent environment.  My research is currently funded by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) and focus on how crop types and land-use history impact the metabolism of bioenergy agricultural ecosystems.  We monitor the carbon sequestration by eddy covariance (EC) techniques and some budget-related ecosystem functions, including aboveground net primary production (ANPP), belowground net primary production (BNPP), photosynthesis rate and soil respiration in corn and switchgrass farms which converted from conservation reserve program (CRP) and conventional agricultural zones near Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), Michigan. 

E-Mail: suyahnja@msu.edu
Phone: 419-508-0040

Susie Wu (Susie)
Ph.D. Student

I joined the team in fall 2013 to pursue my Ph.D. study in the research area of life cycle sustainability assessment. I have bachelor degree in Agronomy and Master degrees in Environment and Energy Studies. During my Master study, I grew interest in Life Cycle Assessment. After graduation I've been working on LCA related topics in China (e.g. eco-design, carbon footprint( and I found that the popularization of partial LCA such as carbon footprint enables many companies to utilize such tools for“halo effect”and jeopardize themselves of“green washing”, as we know that a product system can not be claimed as“green”only by showing their superiority in one or several aspects of sustainability. Thus, a holistic way of assessing product systems's overall sustainability is needed to help the industry better understand their current performance and make policies more impartially.
I feel so attracted by the topic which Professor JiQuan Chen and Doctor Defne Apul is working on: to conduct life cycle sustainability analysis of proposed PV technologies and compare them to different alternatives.
I am excited to begin my study here and study this most interesting and interdisciplinary topic.

E-Mail: wuruqun@msu.edu
Phone: 517-974-1750