Dr. Yakov Pachepsky is the Research Soil Scientist at the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory of the USDA. He completed his Ph.D. studies in Physics and Mathematics at the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics, Moscow State University. Pachepsky received his D.Sc. degree in biology in the Department of Soil Science, Moscow State University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His current research topics mainly include remote sensing, UAVs, soil, and aquatic systems.