Dr. Yongqiang Liu, a research meteorologist from Southern Research Station, USDA-Forest Service visited ESTC, EastFIRE Lab during April 6-10, 2009. Dr. Liu's research focuses on smoke management and air quality. During his visit, Dr. Liu was impressed by the ESTC achievements in monitoring forest disturbances caused by hurricanes and wildland fires, and smoke and dust aerosol using satellite remote sensing. As one of Ph.D. committee members, he attended Ms. Wanting Wang's Ph.D. defense on April 9, 2009. He also discussed the potential cooperation between Southern Research Station and ESTC with Dr. John Qu, the Director of ESTC.