Milkah Kahiu
Research Scientist, Plant and Environmental Sciences
Regular Faculty
I am an ecologist specializing in the application of Earth observation (EO) data to study the structure, function, and dynamics of global dryland ecosystems. My research focuses on several interrelated areas, including aboveground biomass mapping, analysis of vegetation dynamics, understanding fire dynamics and the impacts of drought and climate variability on ecosystem processes. I am also engaged in climate change research with applications in disaster risk reduction and climate-informed financing mechanisms. A significant component of my work involves the integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to extract ecological insights from multi-source EO datasets, enabling scalable and data-driven assessments of ecosystem health and resilience at regional to global scales.
Expertise
- Machine Learning
- Neural Networks
- Agriculture and Food Systems
- Ecology
- Python processing
- Modelling
- Geospatial
- College
Profile Links
- N/A
Awards
- International research initiatives focused on sustainable rangeland management, drought resilience, and climate risk financing.
- As Principal Investigator on a USDA Scientific Exchange Program (2023–2025), I am advancing sustainable forage solutions for drought-prone livestock systems ($300K).
- I also serve as Co-PI on a $700K project supporting index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) in East and Southern Africa using Earth observation to assess forage and climate risk.
- I am also working on a grant to understand fire dynamics in US Southwest.
- Past leadership includes a CGIAR SPIA grant ($275K) evaluating rangeland health and IBLI, and a USAID-PEER project developing improved forage monitoring indices (~$86K). Earlier roles include major EU-funded EO programs like MESA (€5M) and AMESD (€4M), where I led proposal development and contributed to regional implementation.
- I have also won various fellowships during my graduate studies
