Liang is a broadly trained physical geographer with a concentration in bioclimatology, and especially landscape phenology, which explores the timing of life cycle events such as bud burst and flower bloom in the geographic context.  The overall goal of his research is to understand how does environment (especially climate) influence and interact with the living things on Earth in regards to their distribution, timing behaviors, and variability. He is also specialized in remote sensing, especially applications related to vegetation.  Liang’s research interest is focused on interface between the atmosphere and the biosphere, but not excluding intriguing topics related to other domains of the Earth surface system. 

Liang’s research history started with an undergraduate project investigating eastern China’s air pollution through geochemical analysis of urban aerosols from coal burning.  When he became a master student, he worked to reconstruct the paleoclimate associated with the origin of Chinese civilization using mollusks fossils.  He came to the United States in 2003 and has studied plant and vegetation phenology in the context of contemporary climate change, especially aimed at connecting remotely sensed parameters with field observations.  As a doctoral student, Liang defined and developed the concept and framework of landscape phenology, which has become a central theme of his research.  He received his Ph.D. from UW-Milwaukee and came to UK as a post-doc in 2009.  During the post-doctoral study, he expanded his research scope into species distribution modeling, biological invasion, and forest biomass modeling.  One of his on-going research efforts is to decouple the genetic and climatic drivers of plant phenological timing across broad regions. 

Liang teaches courses in climatology and remote sensing.  He values teaching and advising as an essential part of his professional calling.  He enjoys looking for fundamental answers and internal structures in knowledge and hopes this would leave students long-lasting impressions of the subject, although this is not always achievable.