Yuan Zhou is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) of the University of Maryland. He received B.S. and M.S in remote sensing from Beijing Normal University, China, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, and Ph.D in geographical sciences from the University of Maryland in 2019. His research interests include satellite data retrieval algorithm development, Earth's radiation budget, land surface model and data assimilation, vegetation monitoring, disaster monitoring, etc. He currently conducts research into the NOAA JPSS VIIRS land products including surface reflectance, vegetation indices (NDVI/EVI/GVF), and leaf-area-index (LAI).