Research milestones, people news, and field updates in one streamlined feed.
News @ LEES Lab highlights publications, awards, lab arrivals, student milestones, and research updates across our ecosystem science and socio-environmental systems work.
Recent items appear first, followed by earlier milestones from the lab archive.
Ecological Processes (Springer Nature) is recoganized as the top 25% of qualifying journals for editorial excellence for 2025
March 10, 2026
Dr. Lulu Hou jointed LEES Lab for 3 years
March 6, 2026
Yanson Wang, an undergraduate RA at LEES Lab, is accepted as a graduate student by Univ of Michigan for the geospatial data science program, starting in Fall 2026
March 4, 2026
Dr. Yuanbo Liu from Georgia Tech visits and discusses global large lakes
February 16, 2026
Dr. Janet Silbernagel, a former LEES member, returned to MSU for a department seminar
November 20, 2025
Dr. Jiquan Chen receives recoganization as University Distinguished Professor at MSU
June 13, 2025
Most Cited paper by Wiley-BTAA:
Dr. Terenzio Zenone, a former LEES member, returned to MSU for a 3-week visit. Welcome Back!
November 17, 2024
Dr. Jin Wang arrives at LEES as a postdoc research associate
September 23, 2024
Jiquan Chen receives Outstanding Service Award, USCCC – 2024
July 18, 2024
Jiquan Chen receives Scientific Achievement Award (SAA) of IUFRO – 2024
June 2024
Zhenhai Liu arrives at LEES Lab as a visiting PhD student
May 8, 2024
Dr. Jie Dai joins LEES Lab for GLBRC research at KBS
April 15, 2024
Gabriela Shirkey starts a Grand Challenge Initiative Postdoctoral Fellowship at Chapman University in August 2023
June 7, 2023
Julia (Jules) Seay starts at LEES lab as an REU student
May 21, 2023
Zutao Ouyang (a former member at LEES) will take a tenure-track position at Auburn University. Best wishes!
May 30, 2023
Cheyenne Lei receives the Jennifer L. Reed Bioenergy Science Award, GLBRC/DOE
April 25, 2023
Gabriela Shirkey receives ESPP Outstanding Student Publication Award for 2023
March 16, 2023
Jing Yuan accepts a position at California Department of Water Resources as a senior environmental scientist
June 6, 2022
Cheyenne Lei accepts a postdoc position at the Institute of Global Change Biology, University of Michigan
May 22, 2022
LEES lab deconstructs flux tower at a wetland; platform reused as potential sandhill crane habitat
May 13, 2022
Video not loading in your browser? Watch it directly on YouTube.
Cheyenne Lei completes her PhD program
May 6, 2022
Gabriela receives an AmeriFlux scholarship for Summer 2022
April 1, 2022
Gabriela Shirkey receives COGS Disciplinary Leadership Award (2022)
April 2022
Jiquan Chen awarded “Global Scholar” from 2021–22 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
April 1, 2021
Pietro Sciusco selected to receive Gregg Award
March 23, 2021
Pietro Sciusco receives KBS LTER Summer 2021 Graduate Research Fellowship
March 23, 2021
He will present his work at the summer Graduate Fellows Symposium and All-Scientist Meeting at Kellogg Biological Station.
Pietro Sciusco receives Owen Gregg Global Climate Change Research Award
Jiquan receives William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award at MSU
Cover reveal of our latest book in the Landscape Series by Springer
September 18, 2019
“Landscape Dynamics of Drylands across Greater Central Asia: People, Societies and Ecosystems” cover art is released. This volume is a compilation of studies on interactions of changes in land cover, land use and climate with people, societies and ecosystems in drylands of Greater Central Asia. It explores the effects of collapse of socialist governance on land use in various parts of Central Asia. Remote sensing is a primary tool in studying vast dryland territories where in situ observations are sporadic.
Gabriela Shirkey is awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) by the National Science Foundation
April 9, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab Ph.D. student Gabriela Shirkey on being awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
A paper by John et al. (2016) ranked the 3rd most cited publication by Landscape Ecology
April 9, 2019
John R., J. Chen, Y. Kim, Z. Ouyang, J. Xiao, H. Park, C. Shao, Y. Zhang, A. Amarjargal, and J. Qi. 2016. Differentiating anthropogenic modification and precipitation-driven change on vegetation productivity on the Mongolian Plateau. Landscape Ecology 31:547–566.
Zutao Ouyang to start a postdoctoral research associate position at Stanford University in June 2019
April 7, 2019
Congratulations and good luck!
Cheyenne Lei receives Thompson Endowment Award and a Research Scholars Award from the College of Social Science
March 29, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab Ph.D. student Cheyenne Lei!
Gabriela Shirkey receives Thompson Endowment Award and a Research Scholars Award from the College of Social Science
March 27, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab Ph.D. student Gabriela Shirkey!
Cheyenne Lei receives KBS LTER Fall 2019 Research Fellowship
March 6, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab Ph.D. student Cheyenne Lei on being selected as a recipient for the KBS LTER Fall 2019 Research Fellowship!
LEES Alum Dr. Housen Chu accepts position as Earth Research Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
February 25, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab alum Dr. Housen Chu on securing a permanent position as Earth Research Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Dr. Chu is the third person from the LEES lab to secure a permanent position this year!
Pietro Sciusco selected as a recipient for the “NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Award”
February 18, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab Ph.D. student Pietro Sciusco on being selected as a recipient for the “NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Awards”.
Dr. Eugenie Euskirchen accepts a tenure-track position at the University of Alaska
January 21, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab alumni Eugenie Euskirchen who was offered and has accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska.
Dr. Ranjeet John accepts a tenure-track position at the University of South Dakota
January 19, 2019
Congratulations to LEES Lab alumni Ranjeet John who was offered and has accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Ecological Modeling at the University of South Dakota, beginning August 2019.
Hogeun Park unanimously passes his PhD dissertation defense
May 22, 2018
Congratulations to Hogeun Park on unanimously passing his PhD defense, titled “Urban Transformation in Transitional Economies: Lessons From the Mongolian Plateau”.
Gabriela Shirkey successfully passes her “straight-to-PhD” defense
April 24, 2018
Congratulations to Gabriela Shirkey on completing and unanimously passing her defense, titled “Spatiotemporal Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Agricultural Landscape Production”.
Cheyenne Lei awarded W.K. Kellogg Biological Station summer fellowship
March 29, 2018
Congratulations to Cheyenne Lei on being awarded a W.K. Kellogg Biological Station summer fellowship!
Gabriela Shirkey awarded ESPP Doctoral Recruitment Fellowship
February 2018
Congratulations to Gabriela Shirkey on being awarded an Environmental Science and Policy Program (ESPP) Doctoral Recruiting Fellowship!
LEES Lab welcomes Pietro Sciusco
January 22, 2018
LEES Lab welcomes their newest Ph.D. student, Pietro Sciusco.
LEES Lab welcomes Dr. David Reed
September 5, 2017
LEES Lab welcomes Dr. David Reed, a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the NASA Carbon project. David received Bachelor and Master degrees in Climate Physics and Atmospheric Science from University of Michigan, and then received a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Ankur Desai at UW-Madison.
LEES Alumna Dr. Changliang Shao accepts professorship with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
September 8, 2017
LEES congratulates Dr. Changliang Shao, hired as professor at the National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station. Dr. Shao has been a postdoc with LEES Lab for five years.
Ecological Processes accepted into Scopus indexing
April 18, 2017
The journal Ecological Processes, where Dr. Jiquan Chen serves as editor-in-chief, will be accepted for inclusion in Scopus. Read the full story on the journal’s website.
LEES Alumna Janet Silbernagel elected as President of US-IALE
April 16, 2017
At this year’s annual IALE conference, Janet Silbernagel, a LEES alumna, was announced as the next US-IALE President. Congratulations Janet!
Giannico et al. 2016 – Winner of the Hexagon Education Contest 2017
April 14, 2017
Vincenzo Giannico and Raffaele Lafortezza took first place with their paper in Remote Sensing, Estimating Stand Volume and Above-Ground Biomass of Urban Forests Using LiDAR. Both will accept their award at HxGN LIVE in Las Vegas, June 13–16, 2017.
Gabriela Shirkey awarded the Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship (AAGA)
March 17, 2017
Congratulations to Gabriela Shirkey on earning MSU’s Graduate School Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship (AAGA).
Socioecological Carbon Production in Managed Agricultural-Forest Landscapes funded by NASA
December 30, 2016
New funding from NASA will sponsor our next carbon cycle study at Kellogg Biological Station and in the Kalamazoo watershed.
Cheyenne Lei awarded the Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship (AAGA)
November 5, 2016
Congratulations to Cheyenne Lei on earning this competitive assistantship.
Dr. Jiquan Chen becomes new Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Processes
January 10, 2016
Dr. Jiquan Chen is the new Editor-in-Chief at Ecological Processes, starting February 1, 2016.
Past News
- AGU’s Eos Research Spotlight features our latest research on carbon and energy exchanges over the Western Lake Erie Basin — take a look here.
- Zutao Ouyang et al. presented their poster “Relating Chlorophyll-a to CO2 flux western Lake Erie” at AAG Annual Conference in Chicago, April 2015.
- Jiquan Chen was elected as a fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in 2014.
- Mike Deal accepted a position with Ohio EPA as Environmental Specialist, September 2012.
- Jiquan Chen was elected as fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2011.
- The 2011 Norbert Gerbier-MUMM Award of the World Meteorological Organization was given to Yi et al. (2010). Several LEES Members are co-authors.
- Mike Deal defended his thesis on June 9, 2011.
- Ranjeet John completed his PhD research in December 2010.
- Janet Silbernagel is the first Chair for the Conservation Biology & Sustainable Development Program at Univ. of Wisconsin, starting Fall 2010.
- Jiquan is one of the 5 “Distinguished University Professors (DUP)” of UT for 2010–2015.
- Congratulations to Soung Ryu who was offered & accepted a tenure-track faculty position by the University of Alberta!
- Congratulations to Nan Lu, Jessica Schaefer and Jianye Xu who successfully defended their theses in August 2009!
- Congratulations to Nan Lu who received an offer for Assistant Professor by Chinese Academy of Sciences.
- Congratulations to Jim LeMoine who received the UROP Recognition Award for Outstanding Research Mentorship at the University of Michigan, March 11, 2009.
