Luísa Vieira Lucchese

Luísa Vieira Lucchese

Research Assistant Professor

Department of Geology and Environmental Science

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Biography

I am a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Geology and Environmental Science of the University of Pittsburgh (was a Postdoc from Feb 2023 to Jul 2024). At Prof. John Gardner’s lab we work with remote sensing of hydrological and hydrosedimentological fluvial processes and freshwater science. My main project is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) project that has the goal to produce sediment flux estimations for every major river on Earth using Machine Learning techniques.

As a researcher, I apply Remote Sensing, Spatial Data Science, and Machine Learning, to study river geomorphology, freshwater monitoring, extreme events, and the effects of climate change in hydrological processes.

I am a bachelor in civil engineering (2015), a Master of Science (2018), and a PhD (2022) in Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). I also did a PhD Sandwich (mobility period) on the GIScience group of the Geography Department of Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, in Jena, Germany. For my PhD, I worked in the Hydroenvironmental Applications of Artificial Neural Networks (AHRNA) research group. I modeled landslide susceptibility using Machine Learning methods, especially Artificial Neural Networks. During my time in Jena, I had the chance to dive into spatial cross-validation and geomorphic plausibility of AI models.

I find Machine Learning methods fascinating and still underrepresented in environmental science and engineering research. Most of my research is based on Remote Sensing products and GIS techniques. I am a coding enthusiast and have coded scientifically for over a decade, having used many different languages over these years. I also like to use and support the use of open-source software. Every example you see in my Remote Sensing and GIS blog is based on open-source technologies.

Interests
  • Remote Sensing
  • Hydrology
  • Natural Hazards
  • Explainable Artificial Intelligence
  • Spatial Data Science
Education
  • PhD in Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation, 2018-2022

    UFRGS

  • PhD Sandwich - GIScience group, 2021-2022

    FSU Jena

  • Master's Degree in Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation, 2016-2018

    UFRGS

  • Civil Engineering, 2011-2015

    UFRGS

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
University of Pittsburgh
Research Assistant Professor
Aug 2024 – Present Pittsburgh, PA, USA
 
 
 
 
 
University of Pittsburgh
Postdoctoral Researcher
Feb 2023 – Jul 2024 Pittsburgh, PA, USA
 
 
 
 
 
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Guest Researcher
Dec 2021 – May 2022 Jena, Thüringen, Germany
 
 
 
 
 
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
PhD Student
Mar 2018 – Oct 2022 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
 
 
 
 
 
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Master’s Student
Mar 2016 – Mar 2018 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
 
 
 
 
 
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Undergraduate Researcher
Jun 2013 – Dec 2015 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Recent Posts

in the open-source Remote Sensing and GIS Blog

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Awards

CAPES National Award for PhD Theses
Academic Accolade given to PhD Thesis
Academic Accolade given to Master’s Thesis
UFRGS
Featured work on UFRGS Teaching Fair 2017
UFRGS
Young Researcher Award UFRGS