Dr. Long Tian is a Research Scientist in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Informatics from Nanjing Agricultural University, with joint doctoral research at the University of Twente, and previously earned M.A. and B.Sc. degrees in crop science-related fields from Nanjing Agricultural University. His research integrates remote sensing, GeoAI, machine learning, radiative transfer modeling, and field measurements to monitor crop and forest disease, vegetation dynamics, yield prediction, and plant functional traits. Before joining the University of Minnesota, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Davis, where he worked on multiscale almond yield prediction and water-use efficiency. His notable publications include first-author articles in Remote Sensing of Environment on rice blast detection, disease-specific spectral indices, and spectral-biochemical responses to pathogen infection. Dr. Tian is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association of Geographers. His honors include the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence, China Scholarship Council Scholarship, National Scholarship for Ph.D. Students, Presidential Fellowship, and Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate recognition.