Welcome to my site! I am a Professor in Environmental Science (key areas being Remote Sensing, GIS, Spatial Modelling, Climate Change Impacts).
I was named in the top 1000 list of most influential climate change scientists in the world by Thomson Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-change-scientists-list/), coming at 694. This is a significant achievement, considering that there are millions of people involved in research in this field worldwide.
Note (22 June 2021): I have now left my position as Professor at UNE and my work email is no longer valid. Please contact me on Lkumar9 [at] hotmail.com.
My teaching and research have a focus on the application of spatial technologies, satellite imagery and ground based GIS data layers for environmental modelling, and covers areas such as:
- Climate change impacts on small island states in the Pacific and the Himalayan region
- Species Distribution Modelling in investigating the impacts of climate change and weeds on endemic biodiversity
- Climate change impacts on agricultural productivity and land suitability
- Remote Sensing of invasive weed species
- Ecological Remote Sensing, with emphasis on vegetation pattern analysis and monitoring, agricultural land use mapping as well as wildlife habitat evaluation
- Spectral discrimination of vegetation species and biodiversity assessment using hyperspectral remote sensing
Please navigate using the tabs at the top of the page for detailed information about my teaching, research, research publications, and PhD opportunities.
Qualifications
- 1998 Doctor of Philosophy (GIS/Remote Sensing), University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. Title: “Modelling forest resources using Geographical Information Systems and Hyperspectral Remote Sensing.“
- 1994 Master of Applied Science (Remote Sensing), University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. Title: “Artificial Neural Networks and their use in image analysis and classification of remotely sensed multispectral data: A Review.”
- 1992 Master of Science by Research (Environmental Physics), University of the South Pacific, Suva Fiji. Title: “Effects of aggregate size and water content on soil tensile strength and soil compaction.“
- 1990 Post-Graduate Diploma in Physics, University of the South Pacific, Suva Fiji.
- 1989 Bachelor of Education, University of the South Pacific, Suva Fiji.
- 1988 Bachelor of Science, University of the South Pacific, Suva Fiji.
- 1981 Diploma in Science Education, University of the South Pacific, Suva Fiji.
Editorships
- Associate Editor – ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing
- Academic Editor – PloS ONE
- Editor – Remote Sensing
- Editor – Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment
- Editor – Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk