GeoAI-Driven Earth Observation for Sustainable Development

Dr. Achala Shakya is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, SRM University, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. Before that, she was associated with the School of Computer Science, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, and the Computer Science and Engineering department at Sharda University, Greater Noida (U.P.), India. She was awarded a PhD from the Computer Engineering Department at the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra. She was also associated with the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission (NISAR) project under the project entitled "Fusion of SAR and optical data for advanced LULC classification?. She works in Image Fusion and Segmentation, Optical, Radar, and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Information Retrieval, and Web Development.

Dr. Gaurav Tripathi is a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He earned his PhD in Geoinformatics from the Central University of Jharkhand. He studied Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation with specialization in Geo-Informatics from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Netherlands, University of TWENTE, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Dehradun. He served as an Assistant Professor at the School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut, India, and the Centre for Climate Change and Water Research, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India. His research interests include GeoAI, hydro geoinformatics, computational hydrology, disaster management, and microwave remote sensing.

Dr. Ritambhara K. Upadhyay is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geology, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharmshala. She holds a Ph.D. in Geology with a specialization in Hydrogeology and Geoinformatics from Panjab University. Her expertise covers geology, hydrology, remote sensing and GIS, isotope geochemistry, and disaster management. Dr. Upadhyay has diverse professional experience of more than 20 years that includes international teaching at Jimma University, Ethiopia, and corporate experience as General Manager in Environmental Management Services, where she handled projects related to EIA, groundwater approvals, and mining. She is an active researcher with numerous publications in national and international journals and book chapters.

Dr. Dhanendra K Singh is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Sharda University, Greater Noida (U.P.), India. Prior to this, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, and Nirwan University, Jaipur. He earned his doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organization, Dehradun, and HNBU, Garhwal. He also contributed to various projects at the Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Lucknow, GB Pant NIHE, Almora, and IISC Bengaluru. His areas of expertise are in Geoinformatics in snow/glacier studies, climate change, wetland dynamics, disaster management, mountain geography, and SDGs. He does have vast experience in glacier monitoring techniques on and off the field. He is associated with the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) and the Indian Polar Research Network (IPRN) as a council member.

Dr. Manish Pandey, a Research Associate Professor at MURC, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India, is passionate about blending geomorphology with the latest advances in artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Geography with specialisation in remote sensing and GIS at the University of Allahabad and earned his Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University in fluvial geomorphology with support from prestigious CSIR research grants. With more than a decade of research experience, Dr. Pandey investigates earth surface processes, such as flooding, landslides, and groundwater dynamics, using cutting-edge AI techniques. Skilled in cartography and GIS software like ArcGIS and QGIS, and MATLAB- and Python-based GeoAI, he has also broadened his expertise into glaciology through training with the Geological Survey of India and ISRO. Above all, Dr. Pandey is dedicated to advancing GeoAI as a powerful tool for modeling and understanding the natural world.

Prof. Mahesh Pal is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India. He joined NIT Kurukshetra in 1994 and proceeded to doctoral studies under the Commonwealth scholarship scheme in 1999. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K., in 2002. He has published extensively on land-cover classification, feature selection, and application of artificial intelligence techniques in various civil engineering applications. He was also awarded Commonwealth and Fulbright fellowships in 2008 and 2012, respectively, for further studies on hyperspectral remote sensing in the UK and the US. He is the editor of the International Journal of Remote Sensing and on the editorial board of the Remote Sensing Letters, an international journal, and a reviewer of several international journals.

Prof. Arvind Chandra Pandey received the Ph.D. degree in geology from the Department of Geology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, in 2001. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Geoinformatics, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India. He has been working in diverse application areas of Geoinformatics, viz, water resources, glaciology, natural hazards, urban environment, and forestry. He has completed several projects as a PI and a co-PI from the Indian Space Research Organization, Central Ground Water Board, Department of Science and Technology, and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on aspects of Himalayan glacier study, Kosi flood hazards, groundwater targeting, national drinking water mission, arsenic contamination, national urban information system, wasteland mapping, forest fire forecasting, and desertification. Prof. Pandey was a recipient of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-SERVIR Fellowship in 2013 to work on Himalayan Glaciers in Zanskar Valley, Jammu and Kashmir, India.