Rate My Professor Jetse Kalma

Jetse Kalma is Emeritus Professor in the School of Engineering, specifically Civil Engineering, within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He earned his PhD from the University of Jerusalem and a Master of Science in Agriculture from the University of Wageningen. His research specializations include remote sensing applications in environmental sciences, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, urban water supply, as well as land surface processes, hydrology and water resources, catchment modelling, erosion, and nutrient transport. Kalma's work has focused on advancing understanding and modeling in these areas through innovative applications of remote sensing and field measurements.

Over his career, Kalma has been involved in numerous funded projects, securing 21 grants amounting to $1,923,931. Notable grants include the ARC-funded Moisture Map: a soil moisture monitoring, prediction and reporting system (2008-2010), Carbon, nutrient and sediment dynamics in a semi-arid catchment (2005-2007, $370,000), Riparian rehabilitation and ecohydraulics (2004-2006, $100,668), Optimal Source Control in Urban Water Cycle Management (2002-2004, $299,142), and Regional Scaling of Groundwater Recharge (2000-2002, $63,240 ARC plus partners). His key publications demonstrate substantial impact, such as "Estimating land surface evaporation: A review of methods using remotely sensed surface temperature data" with J.D. Kalma, T.R. McVicar, and M.F. McCabe (Surveys in Geophysics, 2008, 1443 citations); "In situ measurement of soil moisture: a comparison of techniques" with J.P. Walker, G.R. Willgoose (Journal of Hydrology, 2004, 497 citations); "A time series approach to inferring groundwater recharge using the water table fluctuation method" with R.S. Crosbie, P. Binning (Water Resources Research, 2005, 395 citations); "One-dimensional soil moisture profile retrieval by assimilation of near-surface observations: a comparison of retrieval algorithms" (Advances in Water Resources, 2001, 276 citations); and "An evaluation of the benefits of source control measures at the regional scale" with P.J. Coombes et al. (Urban Water, 2002, 172 citations). These contributions have shaped research in hydrology, remote sensing of land surface processes, and sustainable water management.