On March 27, the University of Maryland celebrated the achievements of over 250 faculty scholars and researchers at the 2025 Maryland Research Excellence Celebration. The event was hosted at the Hotel at the University of Maryland and co-hosted by the Division of Research and the Office of the Provost. Eight ESSIC scientists were honored at this event.
Congratulations to ESSIC recipients Andrew Feldman, Christopher Grassotti, Jingjing Peng, Alek Petty, Xi Shao, Kimberly Slinski, Hu “Tiger” Yang, and Lauren Zamora!
Andrew Feldman
At NASA, Andrew Feldman is a NASA ECOSTRESS science team member and uses high-resolution satellite-based land surface temperature to understand global ecosystem vulnerability. He also co-leads and manages “ARID,” which is a scoping study for whether global drylands should be the next NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program field campaign.
Chris Grassotti
Chris Grassotti has led a research team of 4-5 scientists that maintain and enhance Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS), a NOAA satellite product system. MiRS generates global surface and atmospheric products that are critical to NOAA’s weather forecasts.
Jingjing Peng
Jingjing Peng performs software development in support of polar and geostationary satellite missions. Her interest is to apply satellite products and other datasets to analyze extreme weather events.
Alek Petty
Alek Petty performs cutting edge research in support of NASA’s polar ice monitoring through a variety of remotely sensed techniques.
Xi Shao
Xi Shao has been leading a team of 4-5 scientists that focus on NOAA satellite calibration for a variety of sensors. His work is critical to ensure high quality satellite measurements for use by NOAA weather and climate prediction.
Kimberly Slinski
Kimberly Slinksi performs applied research using earth observations and earth science models to monitor and forecast the hydrology of food insecure regions and its impact on livelihoods. She leads a team of 3-4 scientists that supports NASA’s research mission
Hu "Tiger" Yang
Hu “Tiger” Yang has been a fixture at ESSIC for over a decade, leading the development of satellite calibration for NOAA satellites. Without his work, much sensor data would not be usable. He also has developed and leads a small microwave lab at ESSIC which develops low-cost sensors (via students) for measuring atmospheric phenomena.
Lauren Zamora
Lauren Zamora studies a combination of interactions between aerosols, clouds, climate, and marine biogeochemistry. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers on the subject, working alongside esteemed researchers at NASA/GSFC.
