Matthew F McCabe, PhD

Biography

Prof McCabe studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Newcastle in Australia, where he received his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. He then spent 5 years in the United States, working with Prof Eric Wood at Princeton University and then at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Matthew returned to Australia in 2008 to take up a faculty position at the University of New South Wales. In late 2012, he joined the Faculty at KAUST.

Research Interests

Prof. McCabe's research interests encompass the modeling and observation of the Earth system, with a focus on the water cycle and its interlinked processes and interactions. We combine models and observations to answer questions on the distribution, variability, and exchanges of water at local, regional and global scales. Earth observation techniques, such as traditional satellite platforms as well as CubeSats, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and in-situ monitoring are used to observe terrestrial processes, while a range of modeling and statistical approaches are employed to understand and predict system behavior. We examine issues related to water security, climate change impacts, precision agriculture, agricultural water use, water resources monitoring and modeling and the novel use of technologies for enhanced Earth system observation.

Selected Publications

For a full listing of publications, please refer to my Google Scholar page:

Tmus ic G, Manfreda S, Aasen H, James M, Concalves G, Ben-Dor E, Brook A, Polinova M, Arranz JJ, Me sza ros J, Zhuang R, Johansen K, Malbeteau Y, Pedroso de Lima I, Davids C, Herban S and McCabe MF “Current practices in UAS-based environmental monitoring”, MDPI Remote Sensing 12(6), doi.org/10.3390/rs12061001
Houborg R and McCabe MF, " Adapting a regularized canopy reflectance model (REGFLEC) for the retrieval challenges of dryland agricultural systems " Remote Sensing of Environment, 186, 105-120
Lopez O, Johansen K, Aragon B, Li T, Houborg R, Malbeteau Y, AlMashharawi S, Altaf MU, Fallatah EM, Dasari HP, Hoteit I and McCabe MF (2020) “Mapping groundwater abstractions from irrigated agriculture: big data, inverse modeling and a satellite-model fusion approach”, HESS-Discussions, doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-50
Houborg R and McCabe MF (2018) “A Cubesat Enabled Spatio-Temporal Enhancement Method (CESTEM) utilizing Planet, Landsat and MODIS data”, Remote Sensing of Environment, doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.02.067
McCabe MF, Solorio B, Houborg R, Mascaro J (2017) “Cubesats in hydrology: ultrahigh resolution insights into vegetation dynamics and terrestrial evaporation”, Water Resources Research, 53, doi: 10.1002/2017WR022240
McCabe MF*, Rodell M, Alsdorf DE, Miralles DG, Uijlenhoet R, Wagner W, Lucieer A, Houborg R, Verhoest NEC, Franz TE, Shi J, Gao H and Wood EF (2017) “The future of Earth observation in hydrology”, Hydrology and Earth Systems Sciences 21, 3879-3914, doi:10.5194/hess-21-3879-2017

Education

2003: Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Newcastle, Australia
1998: B.E. (Hons), Environmental Engineering, University of Newcastle, Australia

Professional Profile

2018: Full Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2013: Associate Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2012: Associate Professor, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2008-2012: Senior Lecturer, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2006-2008: Post-doctoral Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA
2003-2006: Post-doctoral Scientist, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA

Scientific and Professional Membership

Section Chief Editor, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence)

Editor, MDPI Hydrology

Chair of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges LandFlux Project

Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU) (http://sites.agu.org/)

Awards

2019: Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (Cross-Field)
2016: Inaugural Planet Ambassador (www.planet.com)
2009: Australian Institute of Policy and Sciences NSW/ACT Tall Poppy Award
2009: Chinese Academy of Sciences Foreign Visiting Expert Scholarship
2009: Guest Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1998: Tony Herzog Prize (Best Honours Thesis), University of Newcastle, Australia
1998: Institute of Engineers Civil & Structural Branch Prize (Top Final Year Student), Newcastle University

KAUST Affiliations

KAUST Academic Council (BESE Representative)

Dean's Advisory Group (BESE)

Faculty and Staff Conflict of Interest Review Committee (FSCOIRC)

Research Interests Keywords

Water Resources Evapotranspiration Land surface modelling Regional climate modeling Hydrology Remote Sensing Crop health and productivity Water and Energy Cycle Precision agriculture CubeSat Water Security