Valencia University

Belen Franch received her Cum Laude PhD in Physics in 2013 from the Universitat de València (UV). From 2013 to 2019, she served as Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland and as an associate researcher at NASA. She is currently a tenured professor at UV.

Her research centers on remote sensing satellite imagery to develop agricultural applications, notably forecasting the production of major internationally exported cereals before harvest. Belen leads the crop yield estimates working group within the NASA Harvest program and, since 2019, is a member of the GEOGLAM initiative.

In 2018, Belen was awarded NASA’s Early Career Achievement Medal of Honor. She has also been recognized for advancing the state of the art in agrotech and as an Earth Observation specialist in agriculture monitoring, and has received honors from the Universitat de València.