Dr. Yi Yang

Dr. Yi Yang is an ecosystem ecologist working as a postdoctoral researcher at NREL. He is interested in how anthropogenic activities and climate change influence the patterns and drivers of biogeochemical dynamics. His current research investigates global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions under different management and climate change scenarios with the DayCent ecosystem model. He also models agricultural production and participates in the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP), which is evaluating the performance and uncertainty of Global Gridded Crop Models to improve modeling capacities.

Dr. Yang received his B.S. degree in Environmental Sciences from Huaqiao University in 2009, an M.S. degree in Ecology from Xiamen University in 2012, and a Ph.D. degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2019. For his Ph.D. research, he studied long-term C and N dynamics in abandoned agricultural fields. He also modeled the impact of pocket gopher disturbance on soil C dynamics. He enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and cycling in his free time.

Ram Gurung, Research Associate III

Ram Gurung is a Research Associate III that specializes in statistical analyses.  He has a M.S. degree from the Department of Statistics, Colorado State University under the direction of Dr. F. Jay Breidt.  For his M.S. research, he built statistical models to predict Enhanced Vegetation Index curves into the past and future for ecological modeling applications. He assists in estimating soil carbon and nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural lands for U.S. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. His primary role is to estimate uncertainty of the emission estimates. He is involved in developing meta-models to inform decision support systems about greenhouse gas mitigation options in agricultural lands. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at Colorado State University, working with Dr. Stephen Ogle to develop a biogeochemical model for Enhanced Efficiency Nitrogen Fertilizers (EENF) and nitrogen loss from agroecosystems, and to produce an assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural lands with climate change.

Brahadeesh Guhan Dheenadayalan Sivakami, Research Associate III

Guhan is a Research Associate III that specializes in software and computer code development.  He has a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai, India, and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University in 2012.  He designs, develops and implements user-interfaces that simplify data entry for conducting greenhouse gas emission inventories using the Agriculture and Land Use (ALU) Greenhouse Gas Inventory Tool. He also assists with estimation of emissions in the U.S. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. He likes to hike, bike, ski and play badminton in his free time.

Shannon Spencer, Research Associate IV

Shannon is a Research Associate IV who has M.S. in Natural Resources, Forestry from the University of New Hampshire and B.S. in Forestry from the University of Florida. He is the team lead for the Agriculture and Land Use National Greenhouse Gas Inventory tool and participates in data analysis and management of the U.S. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Shannon is married and has three children, and enjoys spending free time in Colorado’s outdoor environment with his family.