AYAD AL-QURAISHI

Dr. Ayad Al-Quraishi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and earned his B.Sc. in Soil & Water Science and an M.Sc. in Soil & Water Conservation from the University of Baghdad. He held the position of Associate Professor at the Middle Technical University in Baghdad until 1999. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering specializing in Earth Observation/Remote Sensing and GIS from the China University of Geosciences (CUG), Wuhan, China, in 2004. From 2004 to 2007, he served as an Associate Professor of Earth Observation/Remote Sensing & GIS at the Middle Technical University in Baghdad. Between 2007 and 2016, he worked as a Professor of environmental Earth Observation/Remote Sensing & GIS at the College of Agriculture, Salahaddin University, Erbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq.

In 2011, Dr. Al-Quraishi was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Center of Global Change & Earth Observation (CGCEO) in Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, United States. In 2022, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, United States. Since October 2018, he has been serving as a Professor of Applied Earth Observation/Remote Sensing and GIS at Tishk International University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region.

With over 40 years of experience in teaching and scientific research, Dr. Al-Quraishi has played a significant role in the academic field at both Iraqi and international universities. He has supervised and examined over forty postgraduate students at the Ph.D. and M.Sc. levels in universities in Iraq and internationally. His extensive publication record includes over 70 papers in international journals. His current research focuses on the applications of optical satellite data in monitoring and assessing land degradation, drought, desertification, soil erosion, soil degradation, soil salinity, sand dunes mapping, forest cover, forest fires, urban expansion, soil erosion, and environmental changes. Specific research interests include satellite-based images applications in land cover change detection, digital soil mapping, and Earth Observation/Remote Sensing/GIS applications for detecting, monitoring, and modeling environmental changes.

Since July 2016, Dr. Al-Quraishi has been nominated as the Ambassador of IEEE-GRSS in Iraq. He holds memberships in several international scientific professional organizations, including IEEE (USA), AAG (USA), EGU (Germany), JpGU (Japan), ASPRS (USA), SPIE (USA), ISEIS (Canada), and APCEES (China). Additionally, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geoinformatics & Environmental Research at IPAcademia and has worked as a Guest Editor for MDPI's Journals, Earth Observation/Remote Sensing, Water, and SPIE's Journal of Applied Earth Observation/Remote Sensing.