People | Steiner Lab

People

Nicholas C. Steiner is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The City College of New York. His work advances microwave remote sensing of wetlands, terrestrial hydrology, and the carbon cycle, translating satellite observations into decision-ready environmental intelligence. He collaborates closely with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, leading and contributing to NASA Earth Science projects that harness missions such as NISAR, SMAP, and ECOSTRESS.

His team develops multi-sensor approaches that combine radar, radiometry, lidar, and thermal data to monitor inundation dynamics, quantify vegetation water stress, and track cryosphere change from the Arctic to the Amazon. Field campaigns like SMAPVEX19–22 and the NISAR Tropical Wetlands Validation Experiment inform open modeling frameworks and datasets, while his mentorship integrates graduate and undergraduate researchers through project-based learning focused on geospatial data and environmental intelligence.

Lab Members

Current Students

Nicole West — is a master’s student in Urban Sustainability at The City College of New York. She contributes to the HiFLOWS project, focusing on flood monitoring and environmental resilience using satellite data and geospatial analysis.

Alumni and Collaborators

Otillia Steadman — master’s student in the Steiner Lab at CCNY, she led a study to understand heat mitigation by urban canopies in New York Public Housing. ECOSTRESS and LiDAR data were used to quantify canopy cooling and advance strategiesfor climate resilience in New York City public housing. (Currently at Columbia University)

Mentorship & Training

Nick has mentored or co-mentored more than a dozen master's and undergraduate researchers across Sustainability in the Urban Environment, Data Science and Engineering, and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences programs. Several mentees have coauthored peer-reviewed publications in The Cryosphere, Geochemistry, and Remote Sensing journals, and his work with the CIPASS initiative supports broader participation in STEM.

Multi-sensor composites help quantify wetland inundation dynamics and vegetation structure.

UAVSAR and ECOSTRESS observations underpin our work on urban forest heat mitigation in New York City.