The Qiu lab conducted field sampling for the NASA project

Supported by our NASA project, Sean, along with undergraduate researchers Ivy and Sophie, conducted field sampling in Pennsylvania to quantify forest regeneration capacity. Working across forest plots, the team collected on-the-ground data on seedlings, seeds, and site conditions that are essential for linking remote sensing observations to the processes that determine whether forests recover after disturbance. This kind of fieldwork is the backbone of our data–model synthesis approach, because it provides the ecological measurements needed to calibrate and validate large-scale predictions.