Jiafu Mao is a Senior Staff Scientist with the Earth Systems Modeling group in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He is also a Joint Faculty Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of University of Tennessee.

Mao’s work primarily involves quantifying and predicting vegetation, hydrology, and wildfire dynamics in the Earth system using field measurements, satellite observations, process-based models, and advanced statistical approaches including machine learning and artificial intelligence; investigating the response and extremes of land surface dynamics to both natural and anthropogenic drivers such as urbanization through factorial model simulations and geoengineering experiments; and analyzing fire–grid feedbacks and developing modeling strategies to mitigate wildfire risks to powerlines and critical infrastructure within an integrated system framework.

Mao earned a combined MA-PhD in atmospheric sciences at Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007. He then became a joint postdoctoral research fellow at the University of New South Wales and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia. Mao was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Associate Scientist, and Scientist with ORNL from 2009 until his Senior Staff Scientist appointment in 2021.