Yushu Xia

Dr. Yushu Xia’s research focuses on soil health assessment and the modeling of soil carbon, nitrogen, and water dynamics in agricultural and natural ecosystems. Her research goal is to improve agricultural and ecosystem productivity while supporting environmental sustainability and broader ecosystem benefits. She seeks to improve soil health and minimize negative environmental impacts through data- and model-driven evidence.

Her work integrates multi-scale datasets from field, laboratory, survey, literature, and remote sensing with empirical and process-based models to quantify ecosystem services and outcomes, such as carbon storage, nitrogen losses through leaching and gaseous pathways, water availability, and ecosystem productivity. She collaborates closely with farmers and ranchers to develop practical, science-based strategies that enhance soil health and improve resource use efficiency.

Education

2021 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences2016 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences2014 Zhejiang University, B.S. in Environmental Science

Honors & Awards

Researcher of the Month, Columbia University, July 2025.iN-Net Research Fellowship, Data working group of the International Nitrogen Network, 2025.Foundation for Food & Agriculture New Innovator Award, 2024.
Guo, H., Xia, Y., Chen, Z., Wang, Z., Yang, Y., Zhou, S. and S. Chen. 2026. Explicit Depth Representation Improves the 3D Modelling of Soil Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio in Croplands. Geoderma. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.118011Sanderman, J., Partida, C., Xia, Y., Lavallee, J., and M. Bradford. 2026. Systematic Review Reveals Soil Organic Carbon Benefits of Alternative Grazing Depend on Study Quality. Communications Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03790-8Schillaci, C., Alves, G., Bayad, M., Bondi, G., Burn, C.R., …, Xia, Y., …, and D.L. Evans. 2026. Soil Diversity and Climate: An Overview of Profile Data and Acquisition with the WoSIS Global Legacy Dataset. European Journal of Soil Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70372Leschinsky, G. and Xia, Y. 2026. Identifying key management and environmental drivers of organic fertilizer-induced soil N2O emissions across North America: A meta-analysis. Environmental Research Communications. http://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ae7251.Li, T., Xia, A., Dalal, R., Manning, S., Beniwal, D., …, Xia, Y., …, and Y.P. Dang. 2026. Mid-Infrared spectroscopy for soil organic carbon estimation. Part I: Global review and meta-analysis. Soil & Tillage Research.  262: e107236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2026.107236Hosseini, F.S., Razavi-Termeh, S.V., Xia, Y., Nouriani, H.M., and Choi, S.M. 2026. Multi-source data and decision fusion for enhanced gully erosion susceptibility mapping using machine learning. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2026.2662432Schillaci, C., Alves, G., Bayad, M., Bondi, G., Burn, C.R., …, Xia, Y., …, and D.L. Evans. 2026. Soil Profiles: a window into soil genesis and degradation. European Journal of Soil Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70322Arteaga, J., Hartman, M.D., Parton, W.J., Xia, Y., Duan, J., Stephenson, M., Volesky, J., Chen, M., Sharp, D., Straube, J., and Gao, W. 2026. Detecting and modeling topography-induced differences in plant productivity across a grassland ecosystem gradient. Ecosphere. 17: e70537. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70537Xia, Y., Sanderman, J., Watts, J., Machmuller, M., Mullen, A., Rivard, C., Endsley, A., Hernandez, H., Kimball, J., Ewing, S., et al. 2025. Coupling Remote Sensing with a Process Model for the Simulation of Rangeland Carbon Dynamics. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024MS004342Xia, Y., Sanderman, J., Watts, J., Carr, C., Ewing, S., Parisien, A., Burdett, C., Hogrefe, T., et al. 2025. Robust Carbon Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification for Grassland Management in the Great Plains. Report for National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. http://doi.org/10.1575/1912/71403Obour, P., Xia, Y., Ugarte, C., Grift, T., and Wander, M. 2024. Soil Physical Properties and Water Dynamics Under Contrasting Management regimes at the Morrow Plots. Soil & Tillage Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2024.106422Xia, Y., Sanderman, J., Watts, J., Machmuller, M., Ewing, S., and Rivard, C. 2024. Designing an Optimized Field Sampling Plan for Quantifying Site-level Baseline Soil Organic Carbon. Geoderma. 448: e116952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116952Xia, Y., Kwon, H. and Wander, M., 2024. Estimating Soil N2O Emissions Induced by Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer Inputs Using a Tier-2, Regression-based Meta-analytic Approach for US Agricultural Lands. Science of The Total Environment. 927: e171930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171930Bulgari, R., Demiraj, E., Schillaci, C., Tlili, A., and Xia, Y. 2024. Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems special section: Improving livability in urban areas: Examining Urban and Peri‐urban Soil and Plant Management. Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems. 9: e20062. https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20062Xia, Y., Watts, J. Machmuller, M., and Sanderman, J. 2022. Machine Learning Based Estimation of Field-Scale Daily, High Resolution, Multi-Depth Soil Moisture for the Western and Midwestern United States. PeerJ. 10: e14275. https://peerj.com/articles/14275/Xia, Y., M. Wander, S. Quiring, S. Yuan, and H. Kwon. 2022. Process-based Modeling of Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions from United States Corn Fields under Different Management and Climate Scenarios Coupled with Evaluation using Regional Estimates. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 9: e971261. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.971261Xia, Y., M. Wander, and K. McSweeney. 2022. Digital Mapping of Agricultural Soil Organic Carbon Using Soil Forming Factors: A Review of Current Efforts at the Regional and National Scales. Frontiers in Soil Science. 7: e890437. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoil.2022.890437Xia, Y. and M. Wander. 2022. Management Zone-based Estimation of Positive and Negative Nitrous Oxide Flux in Organic Corn Fields. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 86: 1043-1057. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20416Xia, Y. and M. Wander. 2021. Evaluation of Indirect and Direct Scoring Methods to Relate Biochemical Soil Quality Indicators to Ecosystem Services. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 86: 678-702. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20370Xia, Y. and M. Wander. 2021. Responses of β-Glucosidase, Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon, and Fluorescein Diacetate Hydrolysis to Conservation Practices. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 85(5): 1649-1662. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20261Xia, Y., Kwon, H., and M. Wander. 2021. Developing County-level Data of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Manure Inputs for Corn Production in the United States. Journal of Cleaner Production. 309: e126957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126957Xia, Y., Guan, K., Copenhaver, M., and M. Wander. 2020. Estimating Cover Crop Biomass Nitrogen Credits with Sentinel-2 Imagery and Sites Covariates. Agronomy Journal. 113: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20525Xia, Y., Ugarte, C., Guan, K., Pentrak, M., and M. Wander. 2018. Developing Near- and Mid-infrared Spectroscopy Analysis Methods for Rapid Assessment of Soil Quality in Illinois. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 82: 1415-1427. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2018.05.0175