(STLMade) From the Ground Up
Scholar and innovator Kaiyu Guan was given the first name “Kaiyu” by his grandfather, which means “explore and discover the universe.” Today, Guan’s work is closely tied to the land, and the Midwest in particular. However, he’s fulfilling his grandfather’s aspiration via geospatial technology. “I’m using satellites as my eyes to see the universe,” he says.
He holds numerous titles: Blue-Waters Professor in Supercomputing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; founder of the university’s Agroecosystem Sustainability Center (ASC); chief scientist for the NASA Acres program; and founder of the ag-tech and geospatial startup HabiTerre, based in St. Louis and Champaign, Illinois. However, Guan is perhaps best described as a pioneer — in the literal sense. In 2019, he broke new ground with HabiTerre, a member of the Wells Fargo Danforth Center Innovation Incubator (IN2) 2023 cohort. The company integrates the latest in earth system modeling, remote sensing, geospatial technology, and artificial intelligence to precisely measure the environmental impact of sustainable farming practices at scale.
HabiTerre continues to strengthen its local network by developing collaborations with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and other major agriculture industry players in the region, while maintaining a co-working space in the T-REX building. Guan and Reinke are eager to explore additional opportunities for partnership, such as with the Taylor Geospatial Institute, founded in 2022 with the intention of becoming the nation’s leading geospatial research collaborative.