DONGMEI FENG , PHD

Dr. Feng specializes in terrestrial hydrology with a particular focus on river systems. Her research aims to improve the quantification of river water quantity and quality and to advance our understanding of complex river dynamics. Dr. Feng develops projects that integrate satellite remote sensing, process-based models, and machine learning to address critical challenges in freshwater resources and ecosystem health.

Since 2022, Dr. Feng has won over $2.2 million in federal research funding as a Principal Investigator to support interdisciplinary projects that bridge hydrology, environmental science, and data innovation. She is also a recipient of the NASA Early Career Investigator Award. Her work has been published in leading journals, including Science, Nature Communications, and Water Resources Research, and has been featured in major media outlets, such as CNN.

For more details, please go to Dr. Feng's Terrestrial Hydrology Lab.

Ph.D.: Northeastern University 2018 (Environmental Engineering)

M.S.: Tongji University 2013 (Environmental Engineering)

B.S.: Tongji University 2010 (Environmental Engineering)

01-2022 -To Present Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, Ohio

Grant: #NASA 80NSSC22K0987 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei; Christian Guzman; Colin Gleason 08-04-2022 -08-03-2025 NASA Headquarters VIC-SNiP: Assimilating Remotely sensed Data to Model Water, Sediment, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous Transport at Continental Scales Role:PI 530,266.00 Active Level:National

Grant: #OoR Collaborative Research Advancement Program: Pilot Grant 1018367 Investigators:Dongmei Feng, Kelly Cohen 09-01-2022 -02-29-2024 Office of Research, University of Cincinnati Innovative approaches to monitoring surface water quality using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and sensors Role:PI 25,000.00 Completed Level:University

Grant: #OSGC ODHE Investigators:Dongmei Feng 07-01-2022 -06-30-2023 Ohio Space Grant Consortium Integrating UAV with sensors to monitor the Harmful Algal Blooms in the Ohio River Role:PI 3,500.00 Completed Level:State

Grant: #NASA Investigators:Merritt Harlan, David Bjerklie, Dongmei Feng 02-15-2023 -02-14-2026 NASA Integration of in-situ and SWOT data to regionally improve SWOT data accessibility and accuracy Role:Co-PI 599,696.00 Active Level:National

Grant: #GR133741- SPC-1000012548 / G21AP10593 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei 09-01-2023 -08-31-2024 U.S. Geological Survey Using long-term satellite data and machine learning to quantify changes in riverine phosphorus in the Ohio River Basin Role:PI 35,983.00 Active Level:National

Investigators:Dongmei Feng, Peter Raymond 09-01-2024 -08-31-2028 NASA Improving the understanding of global inland water carbon emissions with SWOT Role:PI 960,712 Active Type:Grant Level:National

Grant: #G24AC00050-00 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei 02-01-2024 -01-31-2025 U.S. Geological Survey Integration of in-situ and SWOT data to regionally improve SWOT data accessibility and accuracy Role:PI 31,958.00 Active Level:National

Grant: #80NSSC24K1048 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei 09-01-2024 -08-31-2027 NASA Headquarters Mapping pan-Arctic riverine suspended sediment Role:PI 100000.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #NASA Investigators:Dongmei Feng 08-15-2024 -08-14-2027 NASA Mapping pan-Arctic riverine suspended sediment Role:PI $300,312.00 Active Level:National

Grant: #80NSSC24K1654 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei 08-05-2024 -08-04-2028 NASA Headquarters SWOT for Global Inland Water Gas Exchange and Carbon Biogeochemistry Role:PI 186696.00 Hold Level:Federal

Grant: #PO A001721617 / CIT JPL No. 1704029 Investigators:Feng, Dongmei 03-18-2025 -05-31-2025 NASA Headquarters Creating Sentinel-2 river widths for SWOT assessment Role:PI 43879.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Peer Reviewed Publications

Hughes, A. Randall; Schenck, Forest R.; Bloomberg, Jeanne; Hanley, Torrance C.; Feng, Dongmei; Gouhier, Tarik C.; Beighley, R. Edward; Kimbro, David L. (2016. ) Biogeographic gradients in ecosystem processes of the invasive ecosystem engineer Phragmites australis.Biological Invasions, , 18 (9 ) ,2577-2595 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Beighley, Edward; Hughes, Randall; Kimbro, David (2016. ) Spatial and temporal variations in eastern U.S. Hydrology: Responses to global climate variability.JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, , 52 (5 ) ,1089-1108 More Information

Myers, Monique R.; Barnard, Patrick L.; Beighley, Edward; Cayan, Daniel R.; Dugan, Jenifer E.; Feng, Dongmei; Hubbard, David M.; Iacobellis, Sam F.; Melack, John M.; Page, Henry M. (2019. ) A multidisciplinary coastal vulnerability assessment for local government focused on ecosystems, Santa Barbara area, California.Ocean & Coastal Management, , 182 (9 ) ,104921 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Gleason, Colin J.; Yang, Xiao; Pavelsky, Tamlin M. (2019. ) Comparing Discharge Estimates Made via the BAM Algorithm in High-Order Arctic Rivers Derived Solely From Optical CubeSat, Landsat, and Sentinel-2 Data.Water Resources Research, , 55 (9 ) ,7753-7771 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Beighley, Edward; Raoufi, Roozbeh; Melack, John; Zhao, Yuanhao; Iacobellis, Sam; Cayan, Daniel (2019. ) Propagation of future climate conditions into hydrologic response from coastal southern California watersheds.Climatic change, , 153 (1 ) ,199-218 More Information

Brinkerhoff, C. B.; Gleason, C. J.; Feng, D.; Lin, P. (2020. ) Constraining Remote River Discharge Estimation Using Reach-Scale Geomorphology.Water Resources Research, , 56 (11 ) ,e2020WR027949 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Raoufi, Roozbeh; Beighley, Edward; Melack, John M.; Goulding, Michael; Barthem, Ronaldo B.; Venticinque, Eduardo; Cañas, Carlos; Forsberg, Bruce; Sorribas, Mino Viana (2020. ) Future climate impacts on the hydrology of headwater streams in the Amazon River Basin: Implications for migratory goliath catfishes.Hydrological Processes, , 34 (26 ) ,5402-5416 More Information

Feng, D.; Beighley, E. (2020. ) Identifying uncertainties in hydrologic fluxes and seasonality from hydrologic model components for climate change impact assessments.Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., , 24 (5 ) ,2253-2267 More Information

Nickles, Cassandra; Beighley, Edward; Feng, Dongmei (2020. ) The Applicability of SWOTâ??s Non-Uniform Spaceâ??Time Sampling in Hydrologic Model Calibration.Remote Sensing, , 12 (19 ) ,3241 More Information

Ishitsuka, Yuta; Gleason, Colin J.; Hagemann, Mark W.; Beighley, Edward; Allen, George H.; Feng, Dongmei; Lin, Peirong; Pan, Ming; Andreadis, Konstantinos; Pavelsky, Tamlin M. (2021. ) Combining Optical Remote Sensing, McFLI Discharge Estimation, Global Hydrologic Modeling, and Data Assimilation to Improve Daily Discharge Estimates Across an Entire Large Watershed.Water Resources Research, , 57 (3 ) ,e2020WR027794 More Information

Harlan, M. E.; Gleason, C. J.; Altenau, E. H.; Butman, D.; Carter, T.; Chu, V. W.; Cooley, S. W.; Dolan, W. D.; Durand, M. T.; Eidam, E.; Fayne, J. V.; Feng, D.; Ishitsuka, Y.; Kuhn, C.; Kyzivat, E. D.; Langhorst, T.; Minear, J. T.; Pavelsky, T. M.; Peters, D. L.; Pietroniro, A.; Pitcher, L. H.; Smith, L. C. (2021. ) Discharge Estimation From Dense Arrays of Pressure Transducers.Water Resources Research, , 57 (3 ) ,e2020WR028714 More Information

Gleason, C. J.; Yang, K.; Feng, D.; Smith, L. C.; Liu, K.; Pitcher, L. H.; Chu, V. W.; Cooper, M. G.; Overstreet, B. T.; Rennermalm, A. K.; Ryan, J. C. (2021. ) Hourly surface meltwater routing for a Greenlandic supraglacial catchment across hillslopes and through a dense topological channel network.The Cryosphere, , 15 (5 ) ,2315-2331 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Gleason, Colin J.; Lin, Peirong; Yang, Xiao; Pan, Ming; Ishitsuka, Yuta (2021. ) Recent changes to Arctic river discharge.Nature Communications, , 12 (1 ) ,6917 More Information

Chen C., R. Gan, D. Feng, F. Yang, and Q. Zuo (2022. ) Quantifying the contribution of SWAT modeling and CMIP6 inputting to streamflow prediction uncertainty under climate change.Journal of Cleaner Production, , 36 (1 ) ,132675 More Information

Ethan D Kyzivat, Laurence C Smith, Fenix Garcia‐Tigreros, Chang Huang, Chao Wang, Theodore Langhorst, Jessica V Fayne, Merritt E Harlan, Yuta Ishitsuka, Dongmei Feng, Wayana Dolan, Lincoln H Pitcher, Kimberly P Wickland, Mark M Dornblaser, Robert G Striegl, Tamlin M Pavelsky, David E Butman, Colin J Gleason (2022. ) The Importance of Lake Emergent Aquatic Vegetation for Estimating Arctic‐Boreal Methane Emissions.Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, , 127 (6 ) ,e2021JG006635 More Information

Feng, Dongmei; Gleason, Colin J; Yang, Xiao; Allen, George, and Pavelsky, Tamlin (2022. ) How have global river widths changed over time?.Water Resources Research , , 55 (8 ) ,e2021WR031712 More Information

Smith L.C., J. V. Fayne, B. Wang, E. D. Kyzivat, C. J. Gleason, M. E. Harlan, T. Langhorst, D. Feng, T. M. Pavelsky, D. L. Peters (2023. ) Peace-Athabasca Delta water surface elevations and slopes mapped from AirSWOT Ka-band InSAR.Remote Sensing Letters, , 14 (12 ) , More Information

Wang B., L. C. Smith, E. D. Kyzivat, J. V. Fayne, C. Gleason, M. E. Harlan, T. Langhorst, D. Feng, et al., (2023. ) Slow avulsion of the Athabasca River underway on the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada.Water Resources Research, , e2022WR034114 More Information

Lin P., D. Feng, C. J. Gleason, M. Pan, C. Brinkerhoff, X. Yang, H. E. Beck, R.P.M. Frasson (2023. ) Inversion of river discharge from remotely sensed river widths: A critical assessment at three-thousand global river gauges.Remote Sensing of Environment, , 287 ,113489 More Information

Flores J. A., C. J. Gleason, C. Brinkerhoff, M. Harlan, M. M. Lummus, L. A. Stearns, and D. Feng (2024. ) Mapping proglacial headwater streams in High Mountain Asia.Remote Sensing of Environment, , 306 ,114124 More Information

Muhebwa A., C.J. Gleason, D. Feng, and J. Taneja (2024. ) Physics guided machine learning via distributed data modeling to improve discharge prediction in ungauged basins.Water Resources Research, , More Information

Ramtel P., D. Feng, and J. Gardner (2024. ) Quantifying riverine phosphorus in the United States using long-term satellite data and machine learning.JGR: Biogeosciences, , 129 ,e2024JG008121 More Information

Elisa S. Friedmann, Colin J Gleason, D. Feng, Theodore Langhorst (2024. ) Estimating Riverine Total Suspended Sediment from Hyperresolution Satellite Fusion.IEEE JSTARS, , More Information

Feng D. and C.J. Gleason (2024. ) More flow upstream and less flow downstream: the changing form and function of global rivers.Science, , 386 ,1305 More Information

Gupta A. and D. Feng (2025. ) Daily Suspended Sediment Concentration: Predictability and Limits-of-Acceptability at Gauged and Ungauged rivers using Deep Learning.Journal of Hydrology, , 133111 , More Information

Cerbelaud A. et al., including D. Feng (2025. ) Progress towards satellite requirements to capture water propagation in Earth’s rivers.Reviews of Geophysics, , 63 (3 ) , More Information

2023 CEAS Faculty Development Award

2024 NASA Early Career Investigator Award

2024 CEAS Distinguished Researcher Award

2025 CEAS Research Award for Early Career Faculty

Academic - University of Cincinnati
2901 Woodside Dr
Cincinnati  Ohio, 45221
Phone: (513)556-7661
fengdi@ucmail.uc.edu