CV | Steiner Lab

Work Experience

City College of New York, CUNY

New York, NY

Research Assistant Professor (Faculty), Earth & Atmospheric Sciences

2018-Present

Lead microwave remote sensing research on wetlands, surface hydrology, and the carbon cycle; principal investigator on NASA ECOSTRESS urban forest resilience and co-investigator on NISAR, SMAP, and CYGNSS collaborations while mentoring graduate and undergraduate researchers.

CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

New York, NY

Affiliate Professor, Environmental Sciences Initiative

2021-Present

Integrate satellite observations with urban climate resilience partnerships, connecting CUNY expertise with city agencies on environmental health questions and stewarding interdisciplinary research teams.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech

Pasadena, CA

Visiting Research Faculty

2016

Supported NISAR validation strategies and synthetic aperture radar applications for surface hydrology while collaborating with mission scientists.

City College of New York, CUNY

New York, NY

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

2012-2016

Developed soil moisture retrieval and freeze/thaw monitoring algorithms for NASA SMAP and Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) campaigns.

Education

The Graduate Center, CUNY

New York, NY

Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Sciences

2008-2012

Dissertation on monitoring surface melt processes on ice sheets under the supervision of Prof. Marco Tedesco.

The City College of New York, CUNY

New York, NY

M.A., Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

2005-2007

Focused on applying remote sensing approaches to hydrological process studies.

University of Colorado, Boulder

Boulder, CO

B.A., Arts and Sciences

2000-2004

Interdisciplinary coursework across environmental science and geography.

Awards

2014

NASA Group Achievement Award

Carbon in the Arctic Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) Airborne Science Campaign.
2025

Research support portfolio

$4.28M awarded ($0.84M as lead PI) across NASA Earth Science, NSF, and agency partnerships through October 2025.

Selected research support

NASA CESRA HiFLOWS
2025 · $352K

Principal Investigator. High-Latitude Flood and Open Water Surveillance delivering rapid-tasked SAR flood intelligence for Alaska.
NSF BoCP Implementation: Functional responses to environmental change in South American transitional ecosystems
2025 (submitted) · $778K

Co-Principal Investigator. Collaborative effort to couple field ecology with remote sensing diagnostics for transitional biomes.
NASA NISAR Operations Science Team
2024 · $368K

Co-Investigator. Validating wetlands inundation and freeze/thaw algorithms for the global NISAR mission.
MSSM/CUNY Climate Change Health Initiative
2023 · $50K

CUNY Principal Investigator. Evaluating environmental disparities and West Nile virus risk across New York City.
NASA ECOSTRESS Urban Forest Resilience
2022 · $378K

Lead Investigator. Fine-resolution assessment of heat mitigation and water stress in New York City urban forests.
NASA CYGNSS: Methane emissions from tropical wetlands
2021 · $664K

Co-Investigator. Linking GNSS-R inundation retrievals with methane flux assessments to quantify carbon cycle feedbacks.
NASA HMA: Assessing Impacts of Climate-Induced Change on River Flow and Economic Output
2016 · $1.04M

Co-Investigator. Established baseline glacier melt monitoring across the Hindu Kush Himalaya through large-scale SAR analyses.