Khuong Tran

Affiliation: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Earth eXchange (NEX)

Branch: Biospheric Science Branch (SGE)

Email: khuong.tran@nasa.gov

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xTfYaQIAAAAJ&hl=en

Personal Biography

Dr. Khuong Tran is a Research Scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute and NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) at Ames Research Center. His expertise lies in developing remote sensing algorithms and generating satellite-based products for large-scale terrestrial ecosystem monitoring, including vegetation phenology, land use and land cover, agriculture, and surface water. Before joining the NEX team, Dr. Tran earned his Ph.D. in Geospatial Science and Engineering (Remote Sensing Specialization) from South Dakota State University in 2024. He also holds an M.S. in Cartography and Geographic Information Systems from Capital Normal University (2020) and a B.E. in Surveying and Mapping Engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (2017). Dr. Tran has a robust background in surveying, mapping, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI), which he has applied to numerous impactful projects funded by NASA, USDA, and USAID. His contributions have resulted in high-quality publications in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and advancements in NASA’s land surface phenology products. Through his work, Dr. Tran continues to advance the understanding of terrestrial ecosystems, leveraging cutting-edge geospatial technologies and AI to address pressing environmental and management challenges.

Education

Ph.D., 2024, Department of Geography & Geospatial Sciences, South Dakota State University, SD, USA

M.S., 2020, College of Geospatial Information Science & Technology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

B.E., 2017, Department of Geomatics Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, HCMC, Vietnam

Experience

2024 – Present: Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center / Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA

2023 – 2024: Remote Sensing Data Analyst, NASA SERVIR Southeast Asia | Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Bangkok, Thailand

2020 – 2024: Graduate Research Assistant, Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence, SD, USA

2017 – 2020: Graduate Research Assistant, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

Projects

2023 – 2025: Nature-based solutions for food security under climate change effects for sustainable development in the Mekong Delta (Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, PI: Binh Van Doan, Participated as Project Collaborator)

2023 – 2024: SERVIR-Southeast Asia – Expanded and Scaled Climate Actions by using Satellite Data and Geospatial Information in Decision Making (NASA, USAID, & ADPC, Participated as Researcher)

2020 – 2024: Maintenance, Evolution, and Validation of the Global Land Surface Phenology Product from Suomi NPP and JPSS VIIRS Observations (NASA, PI: Xiaoyang Zhang, Participated as Research Assistant)

Professional Activities

Journal Reviewer: Remote Sensing of Environment, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Earth System Science Data, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Geo-spatial Information Science, Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Forests.

Conference Organizer: International Virtual Mirror Studies Conference 2020 – 2024 (http://mirrorstudies.com/)

Awards and Honors

2024: Dr. Fritz Gritzner Outstanding Graduate Geography Student Award. South Dakota State University, USA

2023: AAG Council Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Papers (first place), American Association of Geographers, USA

2021: South Dakota View mini-grant, USA

2020 – 2024: Graduate Research Assistantship, South Dakota State University, USA

2019: Travel grant, Global Flood Partnership Conference 2019, Guangzhou, China

2019: Geoinformatics Summer School Scholarship, Wuhan University, China

2017 – 2020: Chinese Government Scholarship, Capital Normal University, China

2013: Administrative Assistant Sacramento Scholarship (D.O.V.E Fund), Vietnam

2012 – 2017: Scholarships from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam

Publications

• Tran, K.H., Zhang, X., Zhang, H.K., Shen, Y., Ye, Y., Shuai, G., Yuxia, L., Shuai, A. 2025. A transformer-based model for detecting land surface phenology from the irregular Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series across the United States. Remote Sensing of Environment. In Revision.
• Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Tran, K.H., Ye, Y., Shuai, G., Liu, Y., Shuai, A., 2025. Near real-time crop mapping at field-scale by blending crop phenometrics with growth magnitude from multiple temporal and spatial satellite observations. Remote Sensing of Environment. In Revision.
• Shuai, G., Zhang, X., Y., Shen, Tran, K.H., Ye, Y., Liu, 2025. Improvement of land surface phenology monitoring by fusing VIIRS observations with GOES-16/17 ABI time series. Remote Sensing of Environment. In Revision.
• Liu, H., Zhang, H.K, Huang, B., Yan, L., Tran, K.H., Qiu, Y., Zhang, X., Roy, D., 2024. Reconstructing seamless harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) time series using self-supervised learning. Remote Sensing of Environment. 308, 114191.
• Román, M., Justice, C., Brehm Boucher, P., Devadiga, S., Endsley, A., Erb, A., Friedl, M., Gao, H., Giglio, L., Gray, J., Hall, D., Hulley, G., Kimball, J., Knyazikhin, Y., Lyapustin, A., Myneni, R., Noojipady, P., Pu, J., Riggs, G., Sarkar, S., Schaaf, C., Shah, D., Tran, K.H., Vermote, E., Wang, D., Wang, Z., Wu, A., Ye, Y., n.d., 2024. Continuity between NASA MODIS collection 6.1 and VIIRS collection 2 products. Remote Sensing of Environment. 302, 113963.
• Liu, Y., Zhang, X., Shen, Y., Ye, Y., Shuai, G., Tran, K.H., 2024. Evaluation of PlanetScope-detected plant-specific phenology using infrared-enabled PhenoCam observations in semi-arid ecosystems. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 210, 242-259.
• Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Shuai, G., Zhang, H.K., Schaaf, C., Weile, W., Ye, Y., Liu, Y., Tran, K.H., 2024. Investigation of GOES-R ABI EVI2 time series adjusted using different BRDF models. Remote Sensing of Environment. 302, 113972.
• Tran, K.H., Zhang, X., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., Shuai, G., Liu, Y., Richardson, A., 2023. HP-LSP: A reference of land surface phenology from fused Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 with PhenoCam data. Scientific Data. 10, 691.
• Tran, K.H., Zhang, X., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., Shuai, G., Liu, Y., Richardson, A., 2023. Phenology derived from Satellite Data and PhenoCam across CONUS and Alaska, 2019-2020. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
• Shen, Y., Zhang, X., Zhengwei, Y., Ye, Y., Wang, J., Shuai, G., Yuxia, L., Weile, W., Tran, K.H., 2023. Developing an operational algorithm for Near-real-time monitoring of crop progress at field scales by fusing harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 time series with geostationary satellite observations. Remote Sensing of Environment. 296, 113729.
• Luo, D., Zhang, H.K., Houborg, R., Ndekelu, L.M.N, Maimaitijiang, M., Tran, K.H., McMaine, J.T., 2023. Utility of daily 3m Planet Fusion Surface Reflectance Data for tillage practice mapping with deep learning. Science of Remote Sensing. 7, 100085.
• Tran, K.H., Zhang, X., Ketchpaw, A.R., Wang, J., Ye, Y., Shen, Y., 2022. A novel algorithm for the generation of gap-free time series by fusing harmonized Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 observations with PhenoCam time series for detecting land surface phenology. Remote Sensing of Environment. 282, 113275.
• Tran, K.H., Zhang, H.K., McMaine, J.T., Zhang, X., Luo, D., 2022. 10 m crop type mapping using Sentinel-2 reflectance and 30 m Cropland Data Layer product. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 107, 102692.
• Tran, K.H., Menenti, M., Jia, L, 2022. Surface water mapping and flood monitoring in the Vietnam Mekong Delta sing Sentinel-1 time series and Otsu threshold. Remote Sensing. 282, 113275.