Judy Yang

Dr Judy (Xueqin) Yang is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the College of Science and Engineering at James Cook University, Cairns. Her research spans applied artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and computer vision, with a current focus on AI-powered detection and precision management of invasive weed species in Far North Queensland plantation forests.

Dr Yang completed her PhD at Griffith University, where her doctoral research at the School of Information and Communication Technology advanced multi-source data fusion for hyperspectral remote sensing. Her most cited work, LiDAR-Guided Cross-Attention Fusion for Hyperspectral Band Selection and Image Classification (IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2024), introduced a cross-attention transformer framework fusing LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery for high-accuracy land cover classification. Further contributions include Hsimamba, a bidirectional state space model for efficient hyperspectral image classification, and research on unsupervised band selection strategies for LiDAR-hyperspectral fusion, published in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

Her broader expertise spans GIS and spatial analysis, UAV/drone data acquisition and processing, deep learning model development (PyTorch, Ultralytics, HuggingFace), geospatial database management (PostgreSQL/PostGIS), and AI solution architecture. Prior to her research career, Dr Yang developed applied expertise in strategic sourcing, commercial analytics, and enterprise systems integration, bringing a distinctive ability to translate advanced research outcomes into scalable, practical solutions.

Dr Yang is committed to bridging research and real-world impact, working alongside foresters, ecologists, and industry partners to develop field-ready AI tools for natural resource management in Queensland and beyond.