Dr. Barnali Das
Teaching Assistant Professor; Director, NRES Secondary Major
3021 Seaton Hall
785-532-6727 (Department Office)
barnalidas@k-state.edu
- Ph.D., Savitribai Phule Pune University
- Postdoctoral Research Scholar, 2025, University of California Santa Barbara
- Postdoctoral Scholar, 2023, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
- Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
I am a geographer and geospatial scientist who leverages earth observation products, remote sensing, satellite-derived biophysical parameters, and machine learning to forecast agricultural statistics and assess the impacts of climate extremes on crops. My research seeks to maximize the integration of computational methods and geospatial data for near real-time agricultural monitoring, forecasting yield outcomes, and evaluating agro-climatic drivers of food security at regional and continental scales.
- Barnali Das. & Anargha Dhorde. 2021. Geostatistical approach to assess mangrove spatial variability: a bi-decadal scenario over Raigarh coast of Maharashtra. Journal of Coastal Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-021-00813-8.
- D Majumdar, B Das, AK Roy, S Chakraborty & D Datta. 2025. Assessment of the coral habitability status of marine ecosystems along the eastern coast of the Andaman Islands, India. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2025.109421
- Yonathan Viquez, Barnali Das, Susan M Kotikot, Eleftheria Baloukas, Steven WJ Canty, Jordan R Cissell, Tania E Romero-Gonzalez, Grant Connette & Rachel Collin. 2025. Application of open access data for documenting mangrove cover, cover change, and uncertainty in Panama. Bulletin of Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2024.0001
- Barnali Das, Shraddhanand Shukla, Frank Davenport, Karyn Tabor, James Rowland, Michael Budde & James Verdin. 2025. Comparative Performance of Crop Yield Forecast Using Satellite Estimated Biophysical Parameters and Commonly Used Agro-Climatic Predictors Over Sub-Saharan Africa. SSRN 5129680
Barnali Das is Assistant Professor of Geography and Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Secondary Major at Kansas State University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Geography from University of Calcutta in 2009. She earned her master’s degree in 2011 and doctorate in 2022, both in geography, from University of Pune. She has also Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Her PhD work won the Best Scientific Story Award in 2022, a national award across all scientific and technical fields organized by the Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR) program of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Her PhD scientific story was selected as one of the top 100 stories out of more than 10,000 entries in India.
Dr. Das worked as Postdoctoral research scholar at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) before joining K-State in 2025. Her work focused on how climate change and shoreline dynamics affect mangroves in Central America as a postdoctoral researcher at the STRI. At UCSB her work utilizes earth observation products, remote sensing, satellite-derived biophysical parameters, and machine learning methods to understand how climate extremes affect crops in Sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier in her career, she worked with the India Meteorological Department on the Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agro-meteorology, and Land-based Observations (FASAL) project, where she applied geospatial and agro-meteorological approaches to operational crop forecasting.
In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Das enjoys visiting new places, taking long walks, hiking, gardening, painting, playing flute, reading, and cooking.