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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
<title>K. Dana Chadwick</title>
<meta name="description" content="K. Dana Chadwick is a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on landscape biogeochemistry, imaging spectroscopy, and ecosystem ecology." />
<meta name="author" content="K. Dana Chadwick" />
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<meta property="og:title" content="K. Dana Chadwick" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Landscape biogeochemistry, imaging spectroscopy, and ecosystem ecology." />
<meta property="og:type" content="profile" />
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<body>
<a class="skip" href="#main">Skip to content</a>
<header class="site-header">
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<a class="brand" href="index.html">K. Dana Chadwick</a>
<nav class="site-nav" aria-label="Primary">
<ul>
<li><a href="index.html" aria-current="page">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="research.html">Research</a></li>
<li><a href="community.html">Community</a></li>
<li><a href="publications.html">Publications</a></li>
<li><a href="papers/KDChadwick_CV_2026.pdf">CV</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
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</header>
<main id="main">
<div class="hero">
<div class="wrap">
<div>
<h1>K. Dana Chadwick</h1>
<p class="tagline">Landscape Biogeochemistry, Imaging Spectroscopy & Ecosystem Ecology</p>
<ul class="affil">
<li><strong>Scientist</strong>, Water & Ecosystems Group</li>
<li>NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology</li>
<li>Visiting Associate Project Scientist, UCLA JIFRESSE</li>
</ul>
<div class="actions">
<a class="btn" href="research.html">Research</a>
<a class="btn ghost" href="publications.html">Publications</a>
<a class="btn ghost" href="papers/KDChadwick_CV_2026.pdf">Curriculum vitae (PDF)</a>
</div>
<p style="margin-top:1.25rem;font-size:.95rem">I currently have two open NASA Postdoctoral Program positions, with applications due November 1, 2026. <a href="community.html#opportunities">Details and application links.</a></p>
</div>
<figure class="hero-figure">
<img width="1024" height="731" src="images/Bradley Composite.jpeg" alt="Imaging spectroscopy composite draped over lidar topography in the East River watershed, Colorado." />
<figcaption>Imaging spectroscopy data draped over lidar-derived terrain in the upper East River watershed, Colorado. Colors reflect variation in canopy and meadow chemistry across the landscape.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
<section class="band">
<div class="wrap">
<div class="about">
<div>
<p class="eyebrow">Overview</p>
<h2>Research</h2>
<p class="lede">I am an Earth System scientist researching the interconnections among ecosystems, critical zone processes, and the evolution of landscapes.</p>
<p>My work utilizes spaceborne and airborne platforms that integrate imaging spectroscopy and lidar sensors, extensive field sampling campaigns, and laboratory analyses. I combine these techniques in order to uncover spatial distributions of ecosystem characteristics and link these patterns to underlying processes. In order to extrapolate ecosystem and biogeochemical properties from remote sensing data, I design and carry out field campaigns in close coordination with overflights, collecting samples from hundreds of locations in order to develop the statistical models necessary for extrapolation.</p>
<p>At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory my work spans mission science, airborne science campaigns, and applications. The science side is concerned with what future instruments need to measure and how well, with developing and evaluating approaches for retrieving vegetation properties from spectra, and with designing the campaigns that test those questions directly. I served as VSWIR Terrestrial Vegetation Lead for the Surface Biology and Geology mission and am terrestrial lead for the SBG High Frequency Timeseries campaign.</p>
<p>I also lead mission applications for EMIT and EAGLE-VSWIR, connecting the measurements that NASA missions collect with the scientists, agencies, and communities that can use them. This has included mineral and methane detection with EMIT aboard the International Space Station, crop disease surveys over agricultural regions in New York, acid mine drainage mapping in support of remediation, and rapid response collections following the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.</p>
<p>A substantial portion of my work involves building the shared databases, tutorials, and software that make imaging spectroscopy accessible to the broader research community. I lead development of the VSWIR-PLANTS database, contribute to VITALS, organize the EMIT data tutorial series, and publish the field and airborne data from the campaigns I lead.</p>
<p>Prior to joining JPL I was a research associate at UT Austin, an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a graduate researcher in Greg Asner's group at the Carnegie Institution, supported by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship. I received my PhD in Earth System Science from Stanford University and my undergraduate degrees in Environmental Economics and Policy and in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.</p>
</div>
<figure class="about-portrait">
<img width="607" height="700" src="images/headshot_web.jpg" alt="Portrait of Dana Chadwick outdoors, framed by birch leaves." loading="lazy" />
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="band alt">
<div class="wrap">
<p class="eyebrow">Areas of work</p>
<h2>Research Areas</h2>
<div class="grid two" style="margin-top:2rem">
<div class="card">
<h3>Missions & Instruments</h3>
<p>I work on mission science and applications for the <strong>EMIT</strong> and <strong>EAGLE-VSWIR</strong> missions, serving as Mission Applications Lead for both and as EMIT DART Integrator. I previously served as VSWIR Terrestrial Vegetation Lead for the Surface Biology and Geology mission.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Airborne & Field Campaigns</h3>
<p>I design and lead field campaigns in coordination with airborne collections, including <strong>SHIFT</strong> in Santa Barbara County, <strong>CHESS</strong> at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, <strong>AVIRIS4Acres-NY</strong> over Cornell and USDA-ARS research farms, and the first taskable NEON AOP survey. I am Deputy Lead of the Science Definition Team for <strong>PANGEA</strong>, a proposed NASA Terrestrial Ecology campaign in the tropics.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Open Science & Data</h3>
<p>I lead development of the <strong>VSWIR-PLANTS</strong> plant trait database, contribute to <strong>VITALS</strong> for combined EMIT and ECOSTRESS analysis, organize the <strong>EMIT data tutorial series</strong>, and publish campaign data promptly to encourage reuse across a broad community. <a href="community.html">More</a></p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Landscape Biogeochemistry</h3>
<p>I study how erosion, landscape evolution, and substrate influence the distribution of nutrients in soils, and how these patterns are reflected in the characteristics of plant canopies, from Amazonian terra firme forests to Rocky Mountain headwater catchments.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Applications</h3>
<p>I work with agencies, resource managers, and international partners on applications of imaging spectroscopy, including critical mineral identification and mine remediation, greenhouse gas monitoring, plastic pollution, agricultural disease detection, and wildfire response.</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Mentorship & Community</h3>
<p>I mentor postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates through NASA, JPL, and Caltech programs. <a href="community.html#opportunities">Open positions</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="band">
<div class="wrap">
<div class="narrow">
<p class="eyebrow">Current roles</p>
<h2>Positions and Leadership</h2>
</div>
<ul class="roles" style="margin-top:1.75rem">
<li>
<span class="when">2026–</span>
<span class="what">Mission Applications Lead, EAGLE-VSWIR Mission<span>NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2026–</span>
<span class="what">Deputy Lead, Science Definition Team, PANGEA<span>Proposed NASA Terrestrial Ecology field and airborne campaign in the tropics</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2026–</span>
<span class="what">Visiting Associate Project Scientist<span>UCLA Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2025–</span>
<span class="what">Lead, VSWIR-PLANTS Database Development<span>NASA Terrestrial Ecology directed funding</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2022–</span>
<span class="what">Mission Applications Lead, EMIT Mission<span>Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2022–</span>
<span class="what">Terrestrial Lead, SBG High Frequency Timeseries Campaign</span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2021–</span>
<span class="what">Scientist, Water & Ecosystems Group<span>NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology</span></span>
</li>
<li>
<span class="when">2018–</span>
<span class="what">Member, Airborne Sampling Design Technical Working Group<span>National Ecological Observatory Network</span></span>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-top:1.5rem;font-size:.92rem;color:var(--muted)">A full record of grants, awards, service, teaching, and mentorship is available in my <a href="papers/KDChadwick_CV_2026.pdf">CV</a>.</p>
</div>
</section>
<section class="band alt">
<div class="wrap">
<div class="narrow">
<p class="eyebrow">News</p>
<h2>Recent Activity</h2>
</div>
<div class="news" style="margin-top:2rem">
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">Open now</div>
<div>
<h3>Two NASA Postdoctoral Program Positions</h3>
<p>I am advising two open NASA Postdoctoral Program opportunities at JPL, both with applications due November 1, 2026. One focuses on <a href="https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/0335-NPP-NOV26-JPL-EarthSci">terrestrial ecology, wildfire fuel monitoring, and agricultural applications</a>, and the other on <a href="https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/0345-NPP-NOV26-JPL-EarthSci">tropical ecosystem and biogeochemical research</a>. <a href="community.html#opportunities">More detail is here</a>, and I would encourage anyone considering applying to get in touch with me first.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2026</div>
<div>
<h3>NASA Announces the EAGLE Program</h3>
<p>NASA announced the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/eagle/">EAGLE</a> program in 2026, building on the legacy of the HyspIRI and Surface Biology and Geology initiatives. EAGLE-VSWIR is the visible to shortwave infrared mission within the program and is targeted for launch in 2028. I am serving as Mission Applications Lead. I have also joined UCLA's JIFRESSE as a Visiting Associate Project Scientist.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2026</div>
<div>
<h3>PANGEA Selected to Move Forward</h3>
<p>NASA has asked the <a href="https://tropicalforestscoping.com/">PANGEA</a> team to develop a Concise Experiment Plan, an important step toward a NASA Terrestrial Ecology field and airborne campaign in the tropics. I am serving as Deputy Lead of the Science Definition Team, which will work with the PANGEA Steering Committee through 2026 and 2027 to refine the scope and assess feasibility, with an initial focus on Central Africa and a campaign targeted for late 2028 or early 2029. I co-led the Feasibility Working Group during the 2024 scoping study, which engaged more than 800 people across 42 countries and produced the <a href="https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/catalog/ornl-cloud-pangea-white-paper-v1.1-2405-1.1">PANGEA white paper</a>.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">June 2026</div>
<div>
<h3>Paper: The Next Era of Remote Spectral Imaging of the Earth's Surface</h3>
<p>Our review of where remote spectral imaging of the Earth's surface is headed is now out in <i>Nature Reviews Earth & Environment</i>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-026-00805-y">Read the review.</a></p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">August 2025</div>
<div>
<h3>AVIRIS4Acres-NY Campaign</h3>
<p>This campaign, co-led with Katie Gold of Cornell AgriTech through the NASA Acres consortium, collected high resolution hyperspectral imagery over Cornell and USDA-ARS research farms and commercial grape, apple, and onion production in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The work is aimed at early detection of crop disease and understanding how disease affects grapevine physiology. I supported the collection of crop trait data for the VSWIR-PLANTS database. <a href="https://blogs.cornell.edu/goldlab/lab-news/aviris4acres-ny-successfully-captures-hyperspectral-imagery-over-cornell-and-usda-ars-research-farms/">Read the writeup from the Gold Lab.</a></p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2025</div>
<div>
<h3>VSWIR-PLANTS Database Development</h3>
<p>With directed funding from NASA Terrestrial Ecology, I am leading development of <a href="https://github.com/sbg-vswir/sbg_plants">VSWIR-PLANTS</a>, an open database of plant traits and spectra collected across campaigns that supports foliar trait algorithm development for EAGLE-VSWIR. The effort began as SBG-PLANTS and was first presented at <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024AGUFMGC41H0033A/abstract">AGU in 2024</a>.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">July 2025</div>
<div>
<h3>Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study</h3>
<p>CHESS brought a new airborne and field campaign to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, seven years after the first taskable NEON AOP survey of the same watersheds. I served on the planning committee and led the JPL team supporting vegetation trait collection, ISOFIT processing, and model development to unify the 2018 and 2025 datasets.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2025</div>
<div>
<h3>Paper: The SHIFT Campaign</h3>
<p>Our overview of the SBG High Frequency Timeseries campaign is now out in <i>Ecosphere</i>, along with a special collection of companion papers on spectral diversity, phenology, and plant traits. The campaign paired fourteen weeks of repeat AVIRIS-NG flights with weekly field sampling in Santa Barbara County. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70194">Read the paper.</a></p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2025</div>
<div>
<h3>Paper: Detection of Plastics with EMIT</h3>
<p>Our paper on the worldwide detection of plastics using the EMIT imaging spectrometer is out in <i>Geophysical Research Letters</i>. This work also contributed to a United Nations Office for Sustainable Development report on tackling plastic pollution. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112416">The paper is here.</a></p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2024–2025</div>
<div>
<h3>Imaging Spectroscopy for Mining and Remediation</h3>
<p>With support from NASA Earth Action and the Earth System Science Pathfinder program, we are developing critical mineral products and acid mine drainage applications using EMIT data. I presented this work to the mining sector at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation capacity building workshop in Lima, Peru.</p>
</div>
</article>
<article class="news-item">
<div class="when">2023</div>
<div>
<h3>Charles Elachi Award</h3>
<p>I received JPL's Charles Elachi Award for Outstanding Early-Career Achievement, along with NASA Group Achievement Awards for the EMIT science team and the EMIT instrument operations system.</p>
</div>
</article>
</div>
</div>
</section>
</main>
<footer class="site-footer" id="contact">
<div class="wrap">
<div class="footer-grid">
<section>
<h2>Get in touch</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="mailto:dana.chadwick@jpl.nasa.gov">dana.chadwick@jpl.nasa.gov</a></li>
<li>Water & Ecosystems Group (329F)</li>
<li>NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-top:1rem;color:var(--muted);font-size:.9rem">I am always eager to talk with people interested in integrating remote sensing technologies with strategic field campaigns to better understand biogeochemical cycling, nutrient dynamics, and ecosystem ecology in a landscape context. If you are interested in my work or have any questions, please get in touch!</p>
</section>
<section>
<h2>Elsewhere</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/kchadwic/">JPL profile</a></li>
<li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Wxj3Sq8AAAAJ&hl=en">Google Scholar</a></li>
<li><a href="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5633-4865">ORCID: 0000-0002-5633-4865</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/kdchadwick">GitHub</a></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section>
<h2>Projects & teams</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://earth.jpl.nasa.gov/emit/">EMIT</a></li>
<li><a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/eagle/">EAGLE-VSWIR</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tropicalforestscoping.com/">PANGEA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/sbg-vswir/sbg_plants">VSWIR-PLANTS</a></li>
<li><a href="https://watershed.lbl.gov/">Watershed Function SFA</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.rmbl.org/">Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory</a></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section>
<h2>This site</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="research.html">Research</a></li>
<li><a href="community.html">Community & open science</a></li>
<li><a href="publications.html">Publications & data</a></li>
<li><a href="papers/KDChadwick_CV_2026.pdf">Curriculum vitae (PDF)</a></li>
</ul>
</section>
</div>
<div class="colophon">
<p>Photo credits: K. Dana Chadwick, Philip Brodrick, Heidi Steltzer, Kate Maher, and colleagues from the field teams.</p>
<p>Views expressed here are my own and do not represent NASA, JPL, or Caltech.</p>
</div>
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