Shashank Bhushan

I was born and raised in Patna, India, a city located on the floodplains of River Ganges. The fact that the Ganges River receives a part of its summer flow from snow and ice melt in the mountains was my only connection to the mountains, before perusing cryospheric research as an undergrad :) I obtained a Integrated MSc. (Tech.) degree in Applied Geology from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad in 2018. While at IIT (ISM), I got an opportunity to work at the Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington (UW) as a student intern, where actually for the first time I saw glacier(s), mountain(s), and volcano in one go (Mt. Rainier). I returned to the UW as a graduate student in 2018. During graduate school, I worked at Planet Labs as a Photogrammetry Intern in 2020, just when the pandemic started :) Going forward, I am interested in expanding my knowledge on satellite remote sensing, and hope to pursue Earth Science research ideas which benefit people in the currently warming world!

Research Statement: On a broad level, I use satellite imagery and open source, big data processing techniques to study geophysical phenomenons. I specialize in applying modern computer vision techniques to optical satellite imagery for measuring three-dimensional changes on the Earth’s surface. During my undergrad and grad school work, I have applied this technique to detect cryospheric changes in high altitude alpine environments. I am interested in collaborating with researchers to apply similar technologies for understanding geophysical processes occuring elsewhere on the Earth. I am also looking forward to collobarate with social science collagues, and explore how we can combine Earth observation analytics and distributed geospatial information to better understand on-going socio-economic and developmental changes among various communities. Finally, I hope to contribute to curriculum development at various levels, with a special focus on introducing more real-life examples in High-school syllabus. Hopefully, someday I will get to do a bit of everything, without being overwhelmed 😅 If any of this sounds interesting to you, please reach out 😊