UM Directory

I am an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences (DECS). I joined the University of Montana (UM) in 2019 as a Research Scientist at the University of Montana's Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG), where I work on science applications for the MODIS and VIIRS sensors. I am the Principal Investigator (PI) for NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level-4 Carbon Product. I've developed and published improved, global data records on terrestrial productivity (MODIS MOD17) and evapotranspiration (MODIS MOD16). I lead the development of the open-source, reproducible science curriculum, "Open Climate Science for Agriculture." I am also a NASA-funded Early Career Investigator (Earth Sciences), studying the use of satellite microwave data for monitoring wildfire risk in Western U.S. forests. I'm available to mentor UM students in scientific computing, statistical inference, remote sensing, or environmental science.

• PI, NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level-4 Carbon (L4C) Product (2026-Present)
• Member, NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Science Team (2024-Present)
• Co-Lead, GPP/NPP Focus Area, Land Product Validation (LPV) subgroup of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Calibration and Validation (2024-Present)

Education

PhD Natural Resources and Environment and Scientific Computing, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), 2019

B.S. Applied Geophysics, Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI), 2009

Courses Taught

GPHY489/491 - "Programming for GIS"

Teaching Experience

• Certified Instructor, Data Carpentry and Software Carpentry (2015-Present)
• Graduate Student Instructor: "Natural Resource Statistics," University of Michigan (2015-2018)
• Graduate Student Instructor: "Urban Sustainability," University of Michigan (2015-2018)

Projects

Up-scaling Forest Ecophysiological Measurements

• Investigating pre-dawn disequilibrium in woody plants using novel, continuous stem psychrometry measurements and a physiological model

Monitoring Forest Fire Risk and Water Status Using Passive Microwave Data

• Received a NASA Early-Career Investigator grant to study how passive microwave data could be used to jointly monitor fire risk and water stress in Western U.S. forests
• Developing canopy water-content estimates for Michigan forests, to be used in fire behavior modeling with partners at the Michigan Tech Research Institute

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level-4 Carbon (L4C) Product

• Principal Investigator (PI) for the SMAP L4C product, NASA's global, daily carbon budget
• Published a validation of the first dynamic, global model of surface soil organic carbon, using data from SMAP

Continuity of Multi-Decadal Terrestrial Productivity and Transpiration Estimates from MODIS

• Developed improved versions of MODIS MOD16 and MOD17 algorithms using global plant trait databases and eddy-covariance tower fluxes
• Created new VIIRS-based VNP16 and VNP17 products, to ensure the continuity of these terrestrial carbon and water flux estimates
• Published a comprehensive calibration-validation study of MODIS MOD17

Developing a NASA-funded Open Science Curriculum

• Leading the development of a computational climate-science curriculum, to teach reproducible science skills
• Taught an open-science workshop in Algiers, Algeria in 2024; probably the first time a NASA workshop has been taught there.

Selected Publications

• Endsley, K.A., J.S. Kimball, R.H. Reichle, J.V. Ardizzone, T. Kundig, T. Colligan, J. Heinke, E. Kato, J. Knauer, L. Ma, T. Nützel, Q. Sun, W. Yuan. 2026. "A global, daily carbon budget for terrestrial ecosystems constrained by satellite observations of soil moisture: The SMAP Level 4 Carbon product at ten years." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 131(6).
• Endsley, K.A., M. Zhao, J.S. Kimball, T. Albrethsen, S. Devadiga. 2025. "Improved global estimates of terrestrial evapotranspiration using the MODIS and VIIRS sensors." Journal of Hydrometeorology 26(6).
• M. Román, C. Justice, I. Paynter, P.B. Boucher, S. Devadiga, K.A. Endsley, ... 2024. "Continuity between MODIS Collection 6.1 and VIIRS Collection 2 land products." Remote Sensing of Environment 302.
• Endsley, K.A., M. Zhao, J.S. Kimball, S. Devadiga. 2023. "Continuity of global MODIS terrestrial primary productivity estimates in the VIIRS era using model-data fusion." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 128(9).
• Watts, J.D., M. Farina, J.S. Kimball, Luke D. Shiferl, Zhihua Liu, ..., K.A. Endsley, ... 2023. "Carbon uptake in Eurasian Boreal forests drives the high-latitude net ecosystem carbon budget." Global Change Biology 29(7).
• Endsley, K.A., J.S. Kimball, R.H. Reichle. 2022. "Soil respiration phenology improves modeled phase of terrestrial net ecosystem exchange in northern hemisphere." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 14(2).
• Wurster, P., M.P. Maneta, J.S. Kimball, K.A. Endsley, S. Beguería. 2021. "Monitoring crop status in the Continental United States using the SMAP Level 4 Carbon product." Frontiers in Big Data 3.
• Endsley, K.A., J.S. Kimball, R.H. Reichle, J.D. Watts. 2020. "Satellite monitoring of global surface soil organic carbon dynamics using the SMAP Level 4 Carbon product." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 125(12).
• Seymour, E., K.A. Endsley, R. Franklin. 2020. "Differential drivers of cost burden in growing and shrinking cities." Applied Geography 125. 
• Osenga, E.C., J.C. Arnott, K.A. Endsley, J. Katzenberger. 2019. “Bioclimatic and soil moisture monitoring across elevation in a mountain watershed: Opportunities for research and resource management.” Water Resources Research 55(3): 2493-2503.

Publications

See CV for full list.

Professional Experience

• Assistant Research Professor, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana (2025-Present)
• Research Scientist, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG), University of Montana (2019-Present)
• Consultant, Aspen Global Change Institute (AGCI), Carbondale, CO (2017-2021)
• Graduate Student Research Assistant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2014-2019)
• Research Scientist I, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), Ann Arbor, MI (2012-2014)
• Assistant Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), Ann Arbor, MI (2010-2012)