Jalissa Pirro is a LOQATE master's student in the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability Sciences. Her research centers on agricultural remote sensing, with a focus on analyzing the spatial and density distribution of bioenergy crops with Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). As a certified UAS pilot, she utilizes light detection and ranging (LiDAR) attached to UAS to survey the perennial grass, Miscanthus x giganteus (MxG). In a USDA-funded collaboration with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, she aims to develop an automated Python pipeline for high-density, high-resolution point clouds to compute height above ground and quantify individual stems of MxG. Her work will contribute to the ongoing conversation between Midwestern scientists and farmers regarding management strategies of MxG.
Though currently on a research assistantship funded by the USDA, she was previously the teaching assistant for GEOG 2013, Introduction to Sustainability. As part of her passion for remote sensing, she assists with UAS demonstrations in SEES 3500, Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing, and community events including the 2025 BioBlitz. During the summer, Jalissa acted as the drone pilot for the 2025 Edge of Space Academy 2-week program which provided undergraduate students with hands-on experience in designing instrument payloads and integrating them on aerial platforms.  As she moves forward, she will continue to provide UAS support for colleagues with the goal of strengthening collaborative research and advancing work in the remote sensing community.