About

Observing Earth from Above empowers the next generation to use satellite remote sensing to understand our changing planet. We invite you to come learn with us!

About: Observing Earth from Above is a project-based learning course designed to empower undergraduate students from all disciplines to use satellite remote sensing data to answer questions about environmental events. We provide content that allows instructors and their students to use open source data from NASA's ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument and open source GIS software (QGIS) to visualize land surface temperatures, evapotranspiration, plant water use efficiency, evaporative stress, and more. Our initial course was piloted at Chapman University in Fall 2023 and is being scaled to universities around the United States in Fall 2024. Our long-term goal is to develop evidence-based teaching methods that allow a diverse new generation to engage in the power of satellite remote sensing for environmental science.

Project Leadership: Joshua Fisher and Greg Goldsmith (Chapman University) with curriculum built by Jeremy Forsythe (Northern Arizona University) and independent evaluation and assessment provided by Monae Verbeke (Institute for Learning Innovation).

Fall 2024 Course Instructors: Francesca Hopkins (UCR), Helen Poulos (Wesleyan University), Mohamed Ahmed (TAMUCC), Temuulen (Teki) Sankey (NAU), Sanchayeeta Adhikari (CSUN), Troy Magney (UC Davis), and more!

The project is funded by NASA ECOSTRESS Science and Applications Team award #80NSSC23K0309.