Fitxa persona

Dr. Belén Franch Gras received her PhD in Physics (Cum Laude) from the University of Valencia. Between 2013 and 2019, she carried out her research activity at the University of Maryland and at NASA, where she served as an Associate Research Professor. From 2019 to 2022, she was a Distinguished Researcher at the University of Valencia, and since 2022 she has been a Tenured Associate Professor at the same institution. In parallel, she has been an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Maryland since 2019.

Her research focuses on the use of remote sensing for the analysis of the Earth’s surface, with particular emphasis on two main research lines. On the one hand, she works on the estimation of surface albedo and directional effects in the measured radiation, developing during her doctoral thesis models for daily albedo estimation with reduced uncertainty. These models are currently being adapted to medium- and high-spatial-resolution sensors to improve the characterization of the surface energy balance and to correct directional effects. On the other hand, she investigates the application of remote sensing to agricultural monitoring, with a focus on pest monitoring and early crop yield estimation, particularly for strategically important cereals, with the aim of providing objective and quantitative information to support the stability of global food markets.

Dr. Franch leads the Crop Condition Monitoring and Yield Estimation Working Group within NASA Harvest, NASA’s agriculture program, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the GEOGLAM initiative, where she coordinates international agricultural monitoring activities based on remote sensing, leading the in situ measurement working group. She has authored numerous scientific articles in SCI journals, book chapters, technical guides for NASA, and has contributed to high-impact international conferences. She serves as Principal Investigator on competitive projects funded by NASA, ESA, FAO, the Gates Foundation, and national agencies, and leads a research group that includes postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.

Her career has been recognized with several awards, including the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal (2018), the NASA Goddard Exceptional Achievement for Science Award (2019), the EVAP Young Talent Award (2019), the Forinvest Award for Professional Trajectory in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2020), and the Onda Cero Valencia Award (2022).

Her citation metrics are available on Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=OTH_6lcAAAAJ&hl=es