Remote Sensing & Agro-informatics Lab

Biography

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Dr. Tarin Paz-Kagan is a Senior Lecturer at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Israel, and a faculty member of the School of Sustainability and Climate Change. She is the head of the Remote Sensing and Agro-Informatics Laboratory, where she leads interdisciplinary research at the interface of Earth observation, plant eco-physiology, and data-driven environmental modeling.

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Her research focuses on understanding and monitoring plant–soil–atmosphere interactions in agricultural and natural ecosystems under climate change and anthropogenic pressures. She develops and applies advanced remote sensing and sensor-fusion approaches, integrating imaging spectroscopy, UAV- and airborne LiDAR, satellite time series, in-situ sensing, and machine learning, to quantify vegetation structure and function, water and nutrient status, and ecosystem resilience across spatial and temporal scales.

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Dr. Paz-Kagan earned her B.Sc. in Biotechnology and Environmental Studies from Tel-Hai Academic College, followed by an M.A. in Geography and Environmental Development and a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her doctoral research addressed ecosystem responses to land-use change in drylands using remote-sensing indicators of soil quality and productivity. She subsequently held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution for Science (Stanford University), where she worked with Prof. Greg Asner on drought impacts, canopy water content, and forest mortality using airborne imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR. Prior to joining BGU, Dr. Paz-Kagan served as a tenured Research Scientist (Senior Lecturer rank) at the Volcani Center (ARO), Institute of Agricultural Engineering, where she played a central role in advancing precision agriculture, agro-informatics, and AI-based decision-support systems for irrigation, fertilization, and orchard management. 

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Her research has contributed to major advances in precision irrigation, drought monitoring, forest management, crop yield optimization, and digital agriculture, with a strong emphasis on translating high-resolution sensing and modeling into operational, scalable decision-support tools. She has authored more than 46 peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals and regularly collaborates with researchers, growers, and governmental agencies in Israel, Europe, and North America.

Dr. Paz-Kagan has received several prestigious awards recognizing scientific excellence and leadership, including the Toronto Prize for Outstanding Early-Career Research, the Yehiel Admoni Award, and the Molcho Award for Excellence in Women in Science, as well as fellowships from the Vatat Scholarship Program and the Ilan Ramon Scholarship. Her research is supported by competitive funding from EU Horizon programs, the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and multiple BARD grants, including a BARD Pioneer Grant.

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She is actively engaged in international scientific initiatives and governance, including the PANGEOS COST Action, where she contributes to developing digital twin models for agriculture and forestry. She regularly organizes and chairs international workshops and conferences (e.g., UK–Israel and Israel–USA BARD initiatives on data-driven agriculture). Through her teaching, mentoring, and leadership, Dr. Paz-Kagan is committed to advancing climate-smart, data-driven solutions for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem management.