Dr. Crystal Barker Schaaf

Crystal Barker Schaaf is currently a Research Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and the Center for Remote Sensing. She works on the development of operational products for the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) launched on board the Terra and Aqua satellite platforms as part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). Dr Schaaf is a MODLAND Science Team Member and is leading up the BRDF/Albedo effort. She is also a Science Team Member of the Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite on board the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) sensors (NPP is the precursor to the next generation of national meteorological satellites). Her current research interests include the modeling of reflectances and albedo from anisotropic surfaces and the use of remote sensing data to reconstruct and monitor the bi-directional reflectance characteristics of various land surfaces, including vegetation phenology and land surface change. Previously, in her role as a DOD research meteorologist, she focused on the use of remote sensing in automated cloud analyses, the detection of initiating convective clouds, and the characterization of background surfaces. More recently she has also been involved in the development and use of ground-based lidar systems to characterize biomass and vegetation structure.

Dr. Schaaf received her Ph.D. degree in Geography from B.U. in 1994. She received both the S.B. and S.M. degrees in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and also received a M.L.A. in Archaeology from Harvard University in 1988.