Personal Summary

My training and interests are multi-disciplinary, using concepts and tools developed from environmental engineering, ecology, and geography to understand climate-ecosystem interactions, and asociated impacts on water resources, vegetation productivity, and other ecosystem services. My scales of interest range from regional to global extents, emphasizing the use of satellite remote sensing and ecological modeling for landscape analysis. Much of my research has involved developing new techniques and applications for environmental monitoring using remote sensing observations collected from optical-infrared and microwave sensors. My recent projects have included satellite monitoring of habitat quality and invasive species risk; developing satellite environmental data records for global climate change assessment; and developing and maintaining operational data products for several NASA Earth satellite missions. 

Education

Ph.D., Bioresource Engineering, Oregon State University, 1995

M.A., Physical Geography, San Diego State University, 1990

B.A., Physical Geography, San Diego State University, 1987

Courses Taught

Integrated Systems Ecology (BIOS 534)

Forest Ecosystem Analysis (NRSM 532)

Research Interests

Plant-water relations; evapotranspiration; snow; how ecosystems cope with extreme events including damaging frosts, droughts, and floods; environmental remote sensing; boreal-Arctic ecosystems and the cryosphere. See Google Scholar for a complete listing of my publications.

Professional Experience

Director, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG), WA Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana (2017-present);

Professor, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, WA Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana (2014-present);

Deputy Director, NTSG, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana (2014-2017);

Associate Director, Center for Integrated Research on the Environment (CIRE), University of Montana (2014-2018);

Research Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, Flathead Lake Biological Station, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana (1999-04, 2004-010, 2010-2014);