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Nicola Falco

Research Scientist

Building 085B, Room 0102J

M/S 74R316C

nicolafalco@lbl.gov

Curriculum Vitae

  • Education
  • Experience
  • Awards
  • Editorial - Open special issues
  • Professional Affiliations
  • Advisory Boards, Committees, and Councils
  • Scholarly Service

Biography

Dr. Nicola Falco is a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division (CESD) and member of the Environmental Geophysics group.

Dr. Falco’s research focuses on the development and application of novel remote sensing and geophysical techniques for ecosystem characterization with particular emphasis on a) improving the characterization and prediction of ecological processes and their dynamics; b) machine learning for multi-scale and multi-source data integration (e.g., remote sensing, geophysics, and in situ sensor network) to investigate ecosystem drivers; c) investigating surface and subsurface processes by integrating and scaling critical ecosystem properties from point measurements to large scale. He has been working on developing the Ecoimaging concept, which focuses on multi-source data analysis and integration techniques for the simultaneous characterization of aboveground and belowground properties.

His expertise spans across disciplines including remote sensing, signal/image processing, mathematical morphology, advance pattern recognition, and machine learning. He has several contributions in image classification for land-cover/land-use (LCLU) mapping, change detection (multi-temporal) analysis and multi-source data integration as well as optimization of multi-scale techniques for the extraction and integration of spectral and contextual information.

Dr. Falco was born in Verona, Italy. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Trento, Italy, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. He holds a joint Ph.D. degree (Cotutelle) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iceland and in Information and Communication Technologies from the University of Trento obtained in 2015. Before joining LBNL, he spent one year as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Signal Processing Laboratory of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty at the University of Iceland (2015-2016).

Research Interests

Dr. Falco’s research focuses on advancing the use of remote sensing (optical high-resolution data, hyperspectral imaging, LiDAR) and geophysics for environmental characterization and monitoring across different ecosystems and application areas, including mountainous watersheds, agriculture, and terrestrial-aquatic interface. Dr. Falco’s research interests include:

  • Novel machine learning and single/image processing techniques applied to remote sensing data for ecosystem characterization (land-cover mapping, multitemporal analysis, multi-variate analysis).
  • Development of remote sensing approaches for forest characterization and degradation.
  • Hyperspectral imaging (ground/airborne/satellite) for ecosystem functioning and mapping (linking spectroscopy to plant traits, species composition and biodiversity).
  • Investigation of soil-plant interactions through aboveground and belowground characterization (Ecoimaging).

Education

  • Ph.D. (joint degree - cotutelle) in Electrical and Computer Engineering (University of Iceland), and in Information and Communication Technology (University of Trento), 2015,
    Thesis Title: Advanced spectral and spatial techniques for hyperspectral image analysis and classification
  • M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering, University of Trento, 2011,
    Thesis Title: A novel technique based on morphological attribute profiles for change detection in multi-temporal very high resolution images
  • B.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering, University of Trento, 2007

Experience

  • Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division, 2020-Present
  • Scientific Engineer Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division, 2020
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division, 2016-2020
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Iceland, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2015-2016
  • Ph.D. Student Researcher, University of Iceland and University of Trento, 2011-2015
  • Research Assistant, University of Iceland, Faculty Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2011

Awards

  • SPOT recognition for a winning poster, “Remote sensing and near-surface geophysics for above- and belowground characterization at a watershed scale,” EGSB annual meeting, Jan 2020
  • Third prize in the Student Paper Competition of the 2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Milan, July 2015) with the paper "Automatic Morphological Attribute Profiles," G. Cavallaro (student), M. Dalla Mura, N. Falco, J. A. Benediktsson, 2015
  • Recipient of the recognition of IEEE Geoscience Remote Sensing Letters Best Reviewer, 2013

Editorial - Open special issues

  • Remote Sensing (MDPI), Special Issue: "Remote Sensing for Precision Agriculture," 2021 - OPEN

Professional Affiliations

  • American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
  • Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, IEEE

Advisory Boards, Committees, and Councils

  • Member, Technical Committee, Image Analysis and Data Fusion, Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, IEEE
  • Member, EESA URGE Pod

Scholarly Service

  • Guest Editor for Remote Sensing (MDPI), Special Issue: "Remote Sensing for Precision Agriculture," 2021
  • Guest Editor for Remote Sensing (MDPI), Special Issue: "Multi-Modality Data Classification: Algorithms and Applications," 2020
  • Session-chair, Land Use Applications I, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2020
  • Reviewer:
    Elsevier: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Pattern Recognition Letters
    IEEE: Journal of Selected Topic in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, Proceedings of the IEEE, Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transaction on Cybernetics
    MDPI: Remote Sensing, Agriculture, Sustainability
    Nature: Scientific Report
    Taylor & Francis: GIScience Remote Sensing, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing Letters
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