Dr. Pinliang Dong is a Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment, University of North Texas (UNT), Denton, TX, USA. He received his B.Sc. in geology from Peking University, China in 1987, M.Sc. in cartography and remote sensing from the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990, and Ph.D. in geology from the University of New Brunswick, Canada in 2003. Before joining UNT in 2004, he worked as a Senior GIS Analyst/Programmer at Titan Corporation in California (USA) and Okinawa (Japan), and a Staff Associate/GIS Specialist at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. His research interests include remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), digital image analysis, and LiDAR applications in forestry, urban studies, and geosciences. He has taught Intermediate GIS, Advanced GIS, Advanced GIS Programming, Remote Sensing, Special Topics in GIS: LiDAR Applications, and China Field School; mentored over 30 Master’s and doctoral students and two post-doctoral fellows; and hosted over 15 international visiting scholars. He is a member of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), American Geophysical Union (AGU), and International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE). Dr. Qi Chen is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Geography in 1998 and 2001, respectively, from Nanjing University, China, and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley, USA in 2007. He joined the University of Hawaii at Manoa as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 2007, was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2012, and was promoted to Professor in 2017. His early interest and research in LiDAR remote sensing during his Ph.D. study were to develop effective methods for LiDAR data processing and information extraction, including airborne LiDAR point cloud filtering, digital terrain model generation, and individual tree mapping. His research in recent years has expanded to satellite LiDAR, terrestrial LiDAR, and the use of LiDAR for extracting various vegetation attributes for applications such as wildfire mapping and hazard analysis, biodiversity and habitat analysis, and biomass mapping and estimation. His overall interest in LiDAR remote sensing is to improve the methods of information extraction from LiDAR and to promote the use of LiDAR for assisting environmental management and decision making. He is an advisor to many Master’s and doctoral students, postdocs, and has hosted many international students and professors for studying LiDAR in his research lab. He has also given multiple tutorial workshops on LiDAR remote sensing in international conferences organized by professional societies.
