On May 12th, 2017 graduate student Qing Ying was presented with the Jingli Yang Geographical Sciences Summer Research Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Jingli Yang Geographical Sciences Summer Research Fellowship is an award offered to a PhD student with research interests in the areas of: earth observations, land, oceanic, or atmospheric observations, data processing, data products, and records and data analysis for science and applications. 

Dr. Jingli Yang is the Chief Executive Officer of ERT. She is an accomplished marketer, strategist, and entrepreneur. She cultivates business relationships with partners and customers, while working to develop infrastructure and processes necessary to foster the growth of ERT. Under her leadership, the company has enjoyed continuous growth and expansion of its client base while maintaining a focus on both customer satisfaction and employee welfare.

Dr. Yang holds a Ph.D. in Biogeography, Geographic Information Sciences, and Remote Sensing from the University of Maryland and has over 20 years of experience in Earth remote sensing, science data systems, and geospatial interoperability for NASA and NOAA. Prior to ERT, she held a series of progressively more responsible technical and management positions in the Earth remote sensing and satellite data systems fields with companies including Raytheon and Space Imaging EOSAT. Dr. Yang also served as President of ERT for several years, during which she initiated ERT’s Earth remote sensing science support and science data systems development and maintenance activities.

Dr. Yang is President of the Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR), serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland’s College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and is active in both the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. She previously served as Vice President of MSBR, Chair of the NASA Goddard Contractors’ Association, and member of the Maryland Federal Facility Advisory Board under Governor O’Malley. She has received numerous awards including a NASA Global Change Research Fellowship, National Geographic Young Explorer award, and the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing’s Ta Liang Memorial Award.  ERT and Dr. Yang were featured in the 2014 NASA Office of Small Business Programs Spotlight publication highlighting Women-Owned Small Businesses.

Qing Ying earned a bachelor's degree in Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry from Wuhan University in 2007 and a master's degree in Geographic Information Science and Cartography from the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, CAS in 2010. Her master's work involved tracking the three dimensional trajectories of migrating birds in Poyang Lake from integrated audio and video observations by wireless sensor networks. Her current research interests include ecosystem processes under climate change, global vegetation dynamic models coupled with land cover and land use change and their implications in the carbon cycle.

Congratulations Qing!