Songlin Fei: ‘A Digital Revolution in Forestry: AI and Lasers and Digital Twins, Oh My!’

Songlin Fei, professor and Dean’s Chair of Remote Sensing, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, discussed “A Digital Revolution in Forestry: AI and Lasers and Digital Twins, Oh My!” at the Westwood Lecture Series on Oct. 18, 2023.

Abstract. Forests provide critical resources such as timber, fiber, and clean water and air, on which we are heavily dependent. Although digital technology continues to transform our daily lives, our forests are still managed using outdated technologies that are often imprecise and labor intensive. Here, I discuss how Purdue’s Institute for Digital Forestry is taking advantage of recent key developments in sensing technology and computational advancements to move this traditional field into the digital age. I highlight examples about how to merge cross-disciplinary knowledge to revolutionize the forestry sector, which has tremendous economic and ecological impacts. In particular, I showcase the use of different sensing technology from proximal, near-proximal, aerial and satellite-based sensing platforms and various AI models for automated measurement, monitoring and management of forest ecosystems.

Bio. Songlin Fei is a professor and the Dean’s Chair of Remote Sensing, and serves as the director of the Institute for Digital Forestry at Purdue University. Fei’s research includes forest ecology, invasion ecology and digital forestry. His research has significantly advanced the ecology and management of invasive species, the understanding of forest responses to climate change and the modernization of forestry into the digital age. His work has been published in over 140 peer-reviewed research articles, including those in Science, Science Advance, Nature Communications and PNAS. Fei currently serves as the PI for over $25 million of research funding.