Rate My Professor Mehmet Kurum

Kurum's research centers on microwave remote sensing across scales from satellites to small aerial platforms, with applications in environmental sustainability, particularly precision agriculture. His work involves developing spectrum-efficient remote sensing technologies, retrieval algorithms, and forward electromagnetic models supporting NASA missions including SMAP, CYGNSS, NISAR, and SNOOPI. He has secured funding as principal investigator from agencies such as NSF, NASA, DOD, and USDA. Notable awards include the 2021 NSF CAREER Award, 2022 Paul B. Jacob Endowed Chair, 2024 Faculty Fellow in the UGA College of Engineering, 2013 Leopold B. Felsen Award for Excellence in Electromagnetics, 2014 URSI Young Scientist Award, and 2009 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship. Key publications encompass 'A Microwave Emission Model for Layered Vegetation (MEMLV): A Case Study for Boreal Forests from L- to Ka-band' (IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2024), 'Surface Soil Moisture Retrievals Under Forest Canopy For L-band SAR Observations Across A Wide Range of Incidence Angles By Inverting A Physical Scattering Model' (IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2021), and 'A Ubiquitous GNSS-R Methodology to Estimate Surface Reflectivity Using Spinning Smartphone Onboard a Small UAS' (2023). As a Senior Member of IEEE, he serves as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing and IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.