Dr. Wagle has been a research ecologist at the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) since September 2016. As an adjunct faculty member, he supervises/mentors graduate (MS and Ph.D.) students at Oklahoma State University. His primary research interests include biosphere-atmosphere interactions, terrestrial ecosystems’ carbon, and water cycles, and remote vegetation sensing. He has published around forty peer-reviewed journal articles, a book chapter, several non-peer-reviewed articles and proceedings, and over eighty conference abstracts/posters. He has been invited to several national and international conferences. He has served as a member secretary/editor of the Global Journal of Agricultural and Allied Sciences (GJAAS, a publication of the Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of Americas) and guest editor for special issues of sustainability and remote sensing journals. He is a reviewer of several scientific journals of agriculture, meteorology, atmosphere, ecology, ecosystems, environment, climate change, bioenergy, and remote sensing.
Dr. Wagle was born in Amppipal, Gorkha, Nepal, to his father, Tikaram Wagle, and his mother, Kamala Wagle. He completed his secondary schooling (SLC) at Shree Janata Secondary School, Amppipal, Gorkha. He studied for his ISC (agriculture) at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Lamjung Campus. He completed his BS (agriculture) at IAAS, Rampur, Chitwan, in 2004. Dr. Wagle then moved to the United States for his higher education in 2008 and completed his MS (horticulture) in 2010 at Oklahoma State University and his Ph.D. (crop science) at Oklahoma State University in 2013. For his excellent academic records and achievements, he was given the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in 2012 by the Plant and Soil Sciences Department at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Wagle worked as a postdoctoral researcher for two years and as a research scientist for one year at the University of Oklahoma before joining the USDA.
For his exceptional research and professional achievements, Dr. Wagle received a Certificate of Merits and Outstanding Performance Awards from the USDA for FYs 2017 and 2018. He also received Outstanding Reviewer Awards from several journals (Environmental Research Letters, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and Agricultural and Forest Meteorology). He was awarded the President’s Volunteers Service Award by the White House with a Silver Pin and a Certificate of Appreciation by the Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of Americas (NAPA) in 2018 for his outstanding community service. Currently, he is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the general secretary of NAPA. He enjoys playing volleyball and basketball, watching games, and traveling with family in his leisure time. He married Dr. Monika Ghimire (tax economist, Oklahoma Tax Commission) and has a three-year-old son (Anwesh Wagle).
Dr. Pradeep Wagle, Research Ecologist from Oklahoma
