Hong Named Gallogly Chair

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Yang Hong has served as a member of the University of Oklahoma School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science since 2007 and holds the titles of Presidential Research Professor, director of the Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, co-director of research for the OU Water Technology for Emerging Regions Center, adjunct faculty member in the OU School of Meteorology, Fellow of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and most recently, recipient of the prestigious Gallogly Chair.

His areas of research span the range of hydrology-meteorology-climatology, with particular interest in bridging the gap among the water-weather-climate-human systems across scales in space and time. He developed and taught classes related to these topics, including remote sensing retrieval and applications, advanced hydrologic modeling, climate change and natural hazards, engineering survey/measurement and statistics, land surface modeling and data assimilation systems for hydrological cycle, and water systems under a changing climate.

Hong served on several international and national committees, review panels and editorial
boards of several journals. He served as chair of the AGU Hydrology Section Precipitation
Technical Committee from 2008-2013 and member of the AGU Natural Hazard Focus Group
Executive Committee from 2014-2017. In 2012 he co-edited the book Multiscale Hydrologic
Remote Sensing: Perspectives and Applications (568 pp., CRC Press). For his prolific publication record (more than 300 articles, 4 books, 31 book chapters and numerous technologies) and
contributions to the field, he received the OU Vice President for Research 2016 Award for
Scholarly Dissemination “in recognition of exceptional success in disseminating research,
scholarship, and works of creative activities and expression”; the NASA Group Achievement
Award (Global Precipitation Measurement Mission) in 2015; and the NASA Robert H. Goddard
Award in 2014.

Most recently, he co-authored the book, Hydrologic Remote Sensing: Capacity Building for
Sustainability and Resilience (413 pp., CRC Press, 2016).  It addresses the challenges and
opportunities of global water security, reviews the multiple satellite remote sensing observations
available for monitoring the water cycle in emerging regions and over the globe, and discusses
the application of satellite remote sensing in hydrological modeling and data assimilation. 
Furthermore, the book presents the hydrological capacity building tools developed by the NASA
Applied Science Program and the HyDROS group at the University of Oklahoma during the past
decade.

Hong received his doctoral degree major in Hydrology and Water Resources and doctoral degree
minor in Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis from the University of Arizona in 2003, his
master’s degree in Environmental Sciences in 1999, and his bachelor of science degree in Geosciences in 1996 from the Peking (Beijing) University, China. On the awarding of the Gallogly Chair, the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science director Randy Kolar remarked, “Dr. Hong is most deserving of receiving this prestigious chaired position. His vision, his intellect, and his work ethic are nothing short of extraordinary, and through that effort, he has established himself as one of the leading scientists in this field in the world. We are indeed fortunate to have a scholar of his stature among our ranks, and we look forward to many exciting discoveries from his research team in the future.”

Upon notification of receiving the Gallogly Chair, Hong reflected, “I am truly humbled and really thankful for this recognition while approaching my tenth anniversary at OU.  I am very proud to be a part of our great CEES community and am always inspired by our talented colleagues and outstanding leadership, as pursuing excellence is what the Gallogly College of Engineering is all about. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my great collaborators and my supportive family.”


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