Dr. Maria Zubkova is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Zubkova has worked with MODIS and VIIRS Burned Area and Active Fire group that develops and validates official NASA fire products. Her research interests are disentangling the complex interaction between vegetation, climate, humans, and wildfire, emphasizing the African continent.

Dr. Zubkova received her Ph.D. in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Sciences from the University of Idaho. Before that, she earned an MA in Geoinformation in Environmental Management from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) in Greece and a BA in Landscape Design from the Russian State Agrarian University, Moscow, Russia.

Outside of research, Dr. Zubkova dedicates a significant portion of her time to mentoring early-career geoscientists from high school to Post-Doc level. She is especially passionate about supporting and empowering women in STEM through the Association for Women Geoscientists mentoring platform Mentoring365 and NSF Full STEM Ahead.

She is also a Board member of the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) and a co-chair of the SCGIS conference committee. In 2022, Dr. Zubkova received an Outstanding Post-Doctoral Associate in the Department of Geographical Sciences Award.