Guided by a collaborative ethos, York University Professor Baoxin Hu combines satellite data, artificial intelligence (AI) and Indigenous knowledge to support sustainable forest management and climate resilience.
For Hu, engineering is never a solo pursuit. Trained in electrical engineering and now focused on environmental applications, Hu – a professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering – describes her work as a collaborative mission involving students, colleagues and community partners. “Research is like a puzzle,” she says. “I’m just one piece. Without my collaborators, I couldn’t do anything.”
That collaborative spirit drives a recent project Hu leads with support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alliance Society. Based in Ontario, the initiative responds to a need expressed by First Nations communities to conserve and manage their forested lands. “They want to understand which parts of the forest are healthiest, how best to manage them and what kinds of change might be necessary,” says Hu. “But doing this on the ground, across vast areas, isn’t feasible. That’s where Earth observation and data science come in.”
Hu’s team combines publicly available satellite imagery from NASA and the European Space Agency with airborne and ground-based data collected by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The project then applies artificial intelligence to process complex datasets and identify forest types, species and health indicators. “It’s like training a machine to recognize a dog or cat, except we’re teaching it to distinguish maple trees from poplar, or healthy forest from stressed forest,” she explains.
A defining feature of the project is the integration of Indigenous knowledge with western science. In partnership with First Nations communities and through ongoing dialogue, Hu and her team incorporate Indigenous understandings of what constitutes forest integrity. “We want to make sure our definitions of a ‘healthy forest’ align with their values and observations,” she says.
In February, Hu travelled to Sault Ste. Marie to attend an Indigenous land symposium and meet face-to-face with community partners – an experience she describes as essential to building trust. “It’s not just about taking data and leaving. We’re developing long-term relationships and learning what they care about.”
The project aims to build a decision support system that can help predict how proposed forest management strategies – such as replanting or selective cutting – will affect forest health, biodiversity and carbon storage over time. “We want to simulate the impact of an action today and understand what the forest might look like in 20 years,” says Hu.
This project is one of several Hu leads. She also works on a Canadian Space Agency-funded initiative focused on carbon stock, flux and storage, along with ongoing research on moose habitats and forest fire monitoring.
Her research collaborations span provincial and federal governments, industry and academia. Key partners include the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Esri Canada, which provides both technical and financial support.
As her work gains recognition through recent grants, Hu redirects praise to her research group – which includes several female graduate students – and her broader network of collaborators. That humility extends to discussions about gender in her field. While she supports initiatives encouraging women to enter science and engineering, Hu avoids overemphasizing gender in evaluating success. “All my female students are excellent – not because they’re female, but because they’re capable. I want them to know that.”
Hu’s perspective resonates on International Women in Engineering Day: it acknowledges the importance of representation while keeping the focus on merit, collaboration and impact – values that continue to shape her research and the communities it serves.
Read another International Women in Engineering Day feature.