Xiaoyang Zhang received the B.S. degree in geography from Peking University, Beijing, China, in 1984, the M.S. degree in geography from the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China, in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree in geography from King's College London, University of London, London, U.K., in 1999. He is currently a Senior Scientist with the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence at South Dakota State University (SDSU), Brookings, SD, USA. Prior to joining SDSU in 2013, he was a Research Assistant Professor with Boston University, Boston, MA, USA, and a Senior Research Scientist in Earth Resources Technology at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), Camp Spring, MD, USA. His research focuses on land surface dynamics, biomass burning emissions, land cover and land use change, and climate-terrestrial ecosystem interaction with research funding from NASA and NOAA. Dr. Zhang is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the Association of American Geographers, and the International Association of Wildland Fire.