In cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources, Frank uses remote sensing to predict solar insolation, temperature, and humidity and to map evapotranspiration in real time.Originally from the Sacramento area, this California native has a Bachelor's from UC Davis in atmospheric science. Pursuing his Master's in atmospheric science, Frank uses high frequency correlated data from an eddy-covariance system to measure energy budget components over a restored wetland ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Keith holds a B.S. in Aviation Operations and a B.A. in French and a minor in business from San Jose State Univeristy. He is currently working on a Master's degree in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Davis and is collaborating with CalSpace to develop and implement an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensisng platform. On his spare time he enjoys flying, hiking, diving, climbing, cooking, reading and writing.

Ben holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in agricultural engineering from National Taiwan U in Taiwan. He is pursuing his doctorate in hydrology at UC Davis. Ben is developing a radiative transfer model simulating vegetation indices. He will link EOS-MODIS data to improve the model's estimation of water and energy exchange.

A native of California, Solomon earned his Bachelor's degree in forestry at UC Berkeley. He studies reflectance modeling in vineyards (good examples of discontinuous plant canopies). He explores whether chlorophyll's fluorescence and its effect on apparent reflectance can be used to measure photosynthetic efficiency. Equipped with a Master's degree in horticulture from UC Davis, he enjoys teaching and currently teaches Introduction to Viticulture at Las Positas Community College in Livermore and team-teaches Environmental Remote Sensing at UC Davis. Solomon's experience includes work as a research forester at the Blodgett Forest Research Station.

Shawn enrolled at University of California at Davis in the Ecology Graduate Group Masters Program in the fall of 2004. During this year he has been employed as a GIS and Imagery Analyst on the Delta Project in the CSTARS laboratory due to his previous experience in extensive field campaigns, computer analysis, and team-oriented scientific research. Shawn has also worked on the DOE Sponsored WESTGEC project conducting research at the Mojave Global Change Facility in Mercury, Nevada on the response of biological soil crusts to disturbance, increased nitrogen and water availability. He is currently working on his Masters thesis on the hyperspectral remote sensing of air pollution impacts on forest health using bioindicators in Yosemite and Kings Canyon National parks. Click here to read more about Shawn's professional history, his CV's are also avilable in English and Spanish.

Keir grew up in New Mexico and relocated to California just prior to starting the Environmental Studies program at UCSB. He continued on to get an MA in Geography with emphasis in remote sensing. He pursued training and work in the wine industry between 1999 and 2004 then returned to academia with admission to the Geography Graduate Group at UC Davis. His work will entail elements of agriculture, soil, remote sensing and GIS supported in part by an initial fellowship granted by the Kearney Foundation. He has conducted research in sites from southern Washington (Wind River Canopy Crane Site) to central Canada (BOREAS) to Oakville California with emphases in plant physiology, climatology and fruit quality.

Shruti grew up in India and earned her Bachelor's in computer science from Maharaja Sayajirao U. Pursuing her Master's in ecosystems and landscape ecology, Shruti uses remote sensing to estimate the number of days that US farmland is bare in a year. "Bare" means no crop or vegetative cover.

A California native from Orange County, Melinda uses hyperspectral remote sensing along with ecosystem modeling to detect and evaluate the effects of climate change on wetlands and the estuarine communities in San Francisco Bay. Melinda enjoys studying coastal marine systems and has researched marshes, estuaries, streams, rivers, sand dunes, and riparian corridors. At Moss Landing Marine Labs and the Watershed Institute she helped restore wetlands.

She earned a Bachelor's in marine biology from UC Santa Cruz and a Master's in interdisciplinary studies: earth system science and policy/communications science and technology from California State U, Monterey Bay. At UC Davis she is pursuing her Ph.D. in ecology.

A graduate of Universidad Autonoma with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in system engineering and computer science, respectively, Carlos writes software used by CalSpace researchers. He is also working on his Ph.D. in computer science at UC Davis.

JayLee is currently persuing a Master's degree in Geography. She especially enjoys the fusion of field work and state of the art technology. Using GPS and GIS, she is excited by the challenge of creating seamless, integrated databases that feed into analytical models and further extraction of associated environmental variables for analysis. She especially enjoys examining time series aerial photography of the Sacramento River, and is exploring the use of texture analysis as a means of physiognomic mapping of the riparian forests of the Sacramento.

Maria holds and Bachelor's in Botany and a Master's in Geography. She is working on developing tools for evaluating the effects of land-use/land-cover and climate change on agricultural systems.

Nina has a MS degree in physics and a MA in Geography. She does research on remote sensing of invasive weeds on the SERDP project for CSTARS.

Sepalika holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy (2005) from Texas Tech University M.S. in Remote Sensing and GIS (2000) from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand B.S. in Biology from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Her research interests include using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for natural and environmental hazard assessment and mitigation, geospatial analysis and ecological applications. She is currently involved in mapping invasive aquatic species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Waterways.

Applying remote sensing to understand forest fires, David maps fuel types and vegetation recovery after fire and estimates water content of vegetation by using several remote sensors - airborne Lidar, AVIRIS, Landsat-TM and NOAA-AVHRR. His Fulbright fellowship focuses on mapping and assessing wildfire risk with MODIS imagery. David's Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees are in environmental sciences and remote sensing, respectively, from U Alcalá in Spain.

Mike is a post-doctoral scholar with CSTARS, in the Department of Land Air Water Resources (LAWR), after retiring with twenty-seven years as a soil scientist for USDA. His dissertation applied spectroscopy techniques of minerals to hyperspectral data taken of bare soil. His technique to determine the moisture content in the soil surfaces significantly improved the estimation of clay and carbonate mineral contents in hyperspectral images.

As part of CSTARS, his research includes NASA sponsored SMEX04 MODIS soil and vegetation moisture studies, and National Cotton Foundation sponsored precision farming cotton production improvement through remote sensing. Fall Quarter 2004, he was also a lecturer in aerial photography and remote sensing for LAWR. For a list of Mike's publications, please download this pdf document.

Qingfu works for the Land, Air and Water Resources hydrologic sciences and does joint research with the Center. He studies urban forest influences on urban hydrology, and measures and models urban hydrological processes. He is also involved in mapping urban forests using GIS and remote sensing. Qingfu received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer Science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in the People's Republic of China and then received both a Master's and a Ph.D. in Hydrologic Sciences from UC Davis. He enjoys bringing Urban Forestry and Urban Hydrology together in his and the Center's research. Publications by Qingfu Xiao

Originally from Athens, Georgia, Meg holds a Bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Stanford U. At UC Davis she is earning her doctorate in ecology. Meg plans to use remote sensing to look at evolutionary pressures on invasive species in their new ranges and to study their impact on ecosystem processes. Currently she uses it to map the distribution of invasive weeds.

Mui holds a Bachelor's from UC Davis in environmental horticulture and urban forestry with minors in geographic information systems and soil science. She uses remote sensing to assess the health of wetlands along the California coast. Mui enjoys the outdoors, particularly camping and hiking. Her travels have taken her to New Zealand and Australia

Karen holds two Bachelor's degrees from Michigan Technological U - one in environmental engineering and another in biological sciences. She also holds a Master's in agricultural engineering from UC Davis. She uses Landsat images and local climate data to model evapotranspiration and growth of rangeland vegetation in Idaho. Working with Dr. Ustin she also uses AVIRIS imagery to map and model the spread of invasive weeds. Before coming to Davis, Karen worked at a consulting firm in Grand Rapids as a registered professional engineer helping clients meet environmental regulations.

Webb is a data manager, GIS Specialist, and "chief geek" for the PEEIR project. He is persuing a M.A. in Demography at UC Berkeley, studying religious institutions and their role as population organizing centers, as well as methods for analyzing large scale demographic data.

Marcela holds a Ph.D. in forest ecology and bioresource engineering from Oregon State U and a degree in computer science from U Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. She develops ecological models with special emphasis on the sensitivity and uncertainty of global vegetation models.

Using AVIRIS imagery acquired over Kaneohe Bay (Oahu, Hawaii), Jamie develops improved methods of taking reflectance readings underwater. He calibrates images with both atmospheric and water column correction algorithms and designs image classification techniques appropriate for his spectrally complex study sites.

A registered professional engineer, Jamie holds a Bachelor's in engineering from Dartmouth and a Master's in civil engineering from U Colorado at Boulder. His hydrologic modeling supported litigation for Native American water rights. Jamie also designed water development projects in Eritrea. He is presently conducting research in Puerto Rico.

Jonathan grew up in Baltimore, MD and pursued his undergraduate studies at Boston U. His primary interest is mankind's impact on natural ecosystems. Jonathan studies spatial patterns surrounding access roads to oil drilling sites and can show that rates of deforestation are changing with time. His past work include applying hyperspectral remote sensing to determine water stress in cotton and to estimate leaf area indexes at the Wind River Canopy Crane Facility in Washington state. He also used LANDSAT TM amd ETM+ to monitor the effects of human activities on tropical rainforests in Ecuador.

As a Post Graduate Researcher, John did field work and some data analysis for various projects while at CSTARS. He is currently working on a Master's at UC Santa Barbara.

Lin's doctoral and Master's degrees are in planetary geology and electronic engineering, respectively, from Brown U. His Bachelor's degree in geology is from Jilin U in China. Lin focuses on developing new methods for hyperspectral remote sensing. He is improving ways to map invasive weeds. Lin is currently teaching at the University of Indiana.

Rene obtained a Ph.D. in Hydrolic Sciences from UC Davis in 1999. He currently does research on hydrometerology.

Originally from southern California, Carlos has a Bachelor's in environmental biology and management from UC Davis. He used AVIRIS imagery and GIS to map invasive species on the Delta project at CalSpace.

Pablo uses remote sensing and GIS to study and model the distribution and expansion of invasive species and pathogens. He has a Ph.D. in Botany and Plant Pathology from Oregon State U and a Licenciatura in Ecology from U Nacional del Comahue, Argentina. Pablo is currently affiliated with the Institute for Ecological Research, Osnabrueck University, Osnabrueck, Germany.

Hugh did research on the health of the Yosemite forests while at CSTARS. He has since returned to Canada.

A UC Davis graduate, Edward holds a Bachelor's in Environemtnal and Resource Science. He is currently studying the spread of Kudzu, an invasive weed species, at Ford Benning, GA. He plans to continuing his education and persue a Master's sometime in the future. Ed is currently on vacation in China.

Emma's Ph.D. is in Ecology from UC Davis. Focusing on conservation biology and landscape ecology, she develops tools bridging scientific advances and conservation practice that can be applied to better manage and protect biodiversity. Emma's past research includes using multispectral imagery to analyze patterns of deforestation in Madagascar, conducting large-scale biodiversity assessments of Africa with the World Wildlife Fund, and investigating the effects of prescribed fire on invertebrates at The Nature Conservancy's Lassen Foothills Project in northern California. Emma uses hyperspectral imagery to detect invasive plant species and develop predictive models of their future distribution. Her research will assist land managers in better managing these species. She is currently working as the Senior Scientist on the Mediterranean Habitat Assessment Lead with the Nature Conservancy.

Phil applied remote sensing to measure man's impact on natural systems. To research potential shifts in biological soil crust communities in the Mojave Desert, he monitored reflectance spectra and the effects thereon of simulated global climate change. Phil graduated cum laude from Washington U in St. Louis, MO with a Bachelor's in environmental science and biology. Phil has since returned to St. Louis to help build a community center.

Machelle is and Assistant Research Scientist at the Savannah River Ecology Lab at the University of Georgia. He research insterest include statistical metods in ecology, enviromental monitoring and analytical chemistry. http://www.uga.edu/serlherp/

Dr. Zhang is interested in GIS data base development, using GIS for spatial analysis of groundwater leaching and surface water runoff as affected by pesticide applications in agriculture fields, integrating solute transport modelling in GIS, and remote sensing satellite and aerial photography applications in precision farming.

Bob is currently the Senior Landscape Ecologist for the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is also the Global Coordinator for the CGIAR Consotium for Spatial Information. For more information about Bob's research while at Davis, please visit http://www.cstars.ucdavis.edu/projects/nepal/.

Monica obtained her Master's degree in Interantional Agricultural Develpment from UC Davis and returned to Spain where she recieved a Ph.D. in Rural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She uses remote sensing to study the relationships between vegetation and climate at different scales. Monica also works on scaling up ecophysiological models from plant level to canopy and ecosystem levels.

Stephané's area of interest include the studying the physics of the environment. He uses his background in physics to analyze radiometric signals to calibrate data or atmospheric correction. He also works to develop mathematical tools for data analysis (radiative transfer models, analytical inversion models)

Javier has helped with statistical analysis on various CalSpace projects during his numerous visits.

Jose develops algorithms and software to detect and estimate burned areas and gas emissions from low resolution images of continental and global scale. Many of these images are from NOAA's polar orbiting satellites and part of the AVHRR Pathfinder Program to study global climate change. In 1999 he worked in Italy with the Global Vegetation Monitoring Unit of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He holds a Bachelor's in physical sciences from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a Ph.D. in computer sciences from Universidad de Almeria where he teaches courses on computer programing and languages.

José Ramón Rodríguez Pérez is a visiting scholar from University of León (Spain). He is working in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems applied to agriculture; his current project (summer 2005) is Remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications for viticulture monitoring and management, the project site is in a Carneros vineyard (Napa Valley, California).

Alicia recieved her Ph.D. in Soil Science from UC Davis in 1997. She has since visited the CSTARS lab on numerous occasions and has worked on various project over the years. Alicia uses GIS and Remote Sensing analysis on multispectral and hyperspectral data to classify soils. During her last visit, she worked on improving current soil models for predicting soil moisture content.

Stephania is currently working on her Ph.D. in Agrometeorology and Ecophysiology of Agriculture and Forestry Systems. She has studied forest ecology and forestry restoration, and some aspects of desertification in Mediterranean ecosystems. Her degree thesis was "The guideline for a management plan redaction of the Idolo mountain forest (Italy)." and her teacher training work included the SALTUS Project and the study of wildfires in central Sardinia. She is also knowledgeable in mapinfo software, land evaluation methodology and remote sensing interpretation of aerial photos. For Stephania's Ph.D. research, she is working to develop a methodology for the determination of Leaf area index (LAI) in mediterranean maquis ecosystems. Other research topics include ecophysiology of sclerophyllous mediterranean species and structure and spatial distribution of vegetation

Dr. Shih's interest lie in surveying engineering, photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and image processing.

Marco Trombetti
University of Basilicata

email: mtrombetti@cstars.ucdavis.edu

Marco received his Bachelor's degree in Forestry from the University of Bari (Italy) and the Master degree in Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing from the University of Wageningen (NL) in 2002. He is carrying out his PhD research (University of Basilicata) on forest fire risk assessment, and at the CSTARS he is currently focusing on fuel watercontent estimation, using MODIS and AVIRIS images.

Luis Usero Aragonés

Pablo Zarco-Tejada
Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
National Research Council, Spain

email: pzarco@ias.csic.es

 

Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada obtained an Agricultural Engineering Degree at the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Forestry, University of Córdoba (Spain), a Masters Degree in Remote Sensing from University of Dundee (Scotland, UK), and a Ph.D. in Earth and Space Science at York University, in Toronto (Canada). He works with airborne CASI and AVIRIS hyperspectral data to estimate leaf biochemical and canopy biophysical variables through leaf and canopy modelling, and the effects of chlorophyll fluorescence on leaf apparent reflectance through Radiative Transfer.

He was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Davis, working with MODIS satellite for vegetation water content estimation using leaf and canopy models. He is currently at the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Natinal Research Council (Spain), where he works with Hyperion, AVIRIS, CASI, HyMAP and MERIS sensors over forest and agricultural canopies for pigment, nitrogen, water content and LAI estimation. His main interests are related to the applications of remote sensing for vegetation stress condition and precision agriculture.

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