Current lab members listed in order of arrival to the lab.
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Kyla Marie Dahlin, PhDI'm an ecologist with interests in remote sensing, GIS, and Earth system modeling and an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences at MSU. I am also an affiliated faculty member in the interdisciplinary program in ecology, evolution, and behavior (EEB), the environmental science and policy program (ESPP), the Department of Plant Biology (PLB), and AgBioResearch. In addition to my time in academia, I've worked as an urban forester in New York City, a restoration ecologist and GIS tech in San Francisco, and on a number of field projects around the US and abroad. When I'm not being a scientist I still spend a lot of time thinking about plants, as well as riding bicycles, crafting, and hanging out with my family.
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Meicheng Shen, PhD CandidateMeicheng is a PhD candidate in the department of Geography. She received her bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information Science from South China Normal University (Guangzhou, China) and her master’s degree in the Environmental Science Graduate Program from the Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio). She attempts to understand the causes and effects of vegetation changes in the context of climate change by integrating multi-scale observations and statistical/ecological modeling.
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Alanna Post, PhD CandidateAlanna is a PhD student in the department of Geography with a dual major in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. She received her B.S. in Ecology and Environmental Biology from the Biology department at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her M.S. in Biology from Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, CA). She is interested in forest ecology, disturbance ecology, and remote sensing. Alanna's research focuses on understanding post-fire forest recovery dynamics through the lens of forest structure.
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Sandhya Sharma, PhD CandidateSandhya is a PhD candidate with a dual major in the Department of Geography and the Department of Environment Science and Policy. She earned her master's degree in forestry from the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, India, and her bachelor's degree in forestry from Kathmandu Forestry College in Nepal. Her research focuses on forest and disturbance ecology, particularly forest fire dynamics and their assessment using remote sensing. She is studying how plant water stress can predict burn severity in Nepal while developing methods to map forest fires and recurring disturbances, and estimate aboveground biomass loss by integrating remote sensing with field data.
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Courtney Ross, MS studentCourtney is a master’s student in the Department of Geography, Environment & Spatial Sciences. She is also a GIS Specialist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, a program of the Community, Food, and Environment Institute of Michigan State University Extension. She is interested in applying remote sensing techniques to her current work in rare species conservation and forest ecology in the Great Lakes region.
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Renae Gizzo, MS studentRenae is a MS student in the Department of Plant Biology. They earned their B.S. in Environmental and Conservation Biology from Kent State University (Kent, OH), where they collaborated on multiple research projects with faculty from the Department of Geography. These experiences ignited their passion for remote sensing and studying ecological phenomena through a geospatial lens. Their research interests include landscape ecology, change detection, ecosystem modeling, and their applications to natural resource management.
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Abby Beilman, PhD student (& honorary lab member)Abby is a PhD student in the Aho Lab (Earth & Environmental Science) interested in greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon cycling in inland waters…and also, phenology and phenologic shifts as a driver of changes in those systems! They are also interested in scaling up site specific findings using remote sensing techniques. Outside of being a PhD student, Abby enjoys learning to play roller derby and partaking in a variety of other recreational sports, doing puzzles of all kinds, and building and crafting things.
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Zach Butterfield, PhDZach is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences. He received his B.S. in Physics from Utah State University, completed a year as a post-bacc researcher in Earth and Environmental Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and went on to earn an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on leveraging remote sensing to better understand forest carbon dynamics and elucidate carbon-climate interactions. In his free time, he enjoys trail running, playing the piano, or having his nose in a book.
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ERSAM Lab Holiday Party 2023After years of pandemic caution + sabbatical, we finally got together in person to celebrate the end of the year in December 2023. And we were happy to be joined by the Zarnetskes (and their children, though the kids decided to eat separately).
Including (L to R): Kyla, Phoebe, Alanna, Sandhya, Adriana, Jay, and Meicheng. |
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ERSAM Lab Socially Distanced 2020Well, 2020 did not pan out as planned. After many many zoom meetings, some of us did manage to get together in person for some socially distanced apple picking before winter arrived.
Including (L to R): Kyla and family, Meicheng, Donald, Manaswini, and Ryan. We also celebrated our two pandemic PhD defenses (Aaron & Ryan)! We were excited to celebrate with past and current lab members now located all over the US.
L to R, top to bottom: Gabriela, Kyla & Hazel, Aaron, Logan, Donald, Ryan, Meicheng, Gloria, Ty and Marielle. |
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ERSAM Lab Holiday Party 20192019 was a busy and fun year! Everyone made great strides and we're looking forward to 2020!
Including (~L to R): Hazel, Kyla, Nathan, Heather, Ryan, Meicheng, Mercy, Donald, David, Aaron, and Marigold. |
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ERSAM Lab Holiday Party 20182018 was another exciting year with lots of new people and great accomplishments. This year, since the basement climbing wall is up, folks got to test their climbing skills against the kiddos.
Including (L to R): Nathan, Marigold, David, Lynn, Morgan, Kyla, Hazel, Ryan, Donald, Gabriela, Aaron, and Paul. |
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ERSAM Lab Holiday Party 20172017 has been a roller coaster of a year, but with many great accomplishments by our group. We had a great time celebrating, playing with toddler toys, and eating lots and lots.
Including (L to R): Logan, Gloria, Ryan, Lynn, Morgan, Kyla, baby Marigold, Nathan, Hazel, Cadi, Brad, Aaron, Marielle, Heather, and David. |
Lab Alumni
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Tony Bowman, MSMy academic career began with my BSc. in Biology from UT in 2020, followed by attaining a Professional GIS Certificate from the onGEO program in order to expand my experience with using GIS and remotely sensed data. During my projects with NASA DEVELOP, I gained experience using GIS to model habitat suitability for invasive species as well as a native species to support habitat restoration initiatives. My research interests include using hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR data to examine invasive species’ impacts on forest biodiversity and ecosystem biogeochemical processes at multiple spatial scales. My hobbies include hiking, traveling, or truly anything that allows me to explore nature with my partner and our dogs. Tony graduated in the summer of 2024 and is now working locally as a GIS technician.
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Adriana Uscanga, PhDAdriana was a postdoc in the Lab from September 2022 to September 2024. She is now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities!
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Casey Youngflesh, PhDCasey was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at MSU. His interests including understanding how population- and community-level processes vary across environmental gradients and the consequences these dynamics have for patterns of biodiversity. He uses quantitative and computational tools, such as hierarchical Bayesian and deep-learning based models, to leverage data streams from a variety of sources, including satellite-based sensors and large-scale community science projects. While much of his work is focused on birds and marine mammals, his interests span taxonomic groups. He can often be found exploring the outdoors or collecting the endless amounts of fur generated by his fluffy cat. He is now an assistant professor at Clemson University.
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Donald Akanga, PhDDonald received B.S in Environmental Studies & Community Development from Kenyatta University -Kenya and M.S in Geospatial Science from University of North Alabama in 2013 and 2018 respectively. He held Project Management Associate and Ag. Nursery Manager positions at Komaza until May 2016 and interned at Lawrenceburg Utility System’s GIS department in Summer 2018. Donald’s research interests include remote sensing, Earth system modeling and GIS applications to nature-society interactions. He has previously used remote sensing to analyze spatiotemporal occurrence of drought in Kenya. Donald’s current research examines past and future carbon cycle in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River Watershed. He’ll always find something to laugh about – isn’t laughter the best medicine? Donald graduated from MSU in the spring of 2023 and is now an assistant professor at the Montana State University Billings.
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Yonela Maziko, PhD Candidate at University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa and Fulbright Scholar visiting ERSAM LabYonela Maziko is a vibrant young researcher from the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Growing up in rural areas with high poverty rates, she concluded from a young age that a viable solution to many social problems is education. It is with that reason that she pursued higher education, obtaining a Bachelor of science degree in Animal and Pasture science and a Master’s in science from the University of Fort Hare. She is currently registered as a PhD candidate in ecological science at the University of KwaZulu Natal, forming part of the global Drought Network, with specific research interests in climate change impacts on mesic grasslands. As part of her PhD, she is currently Based at Michigan State University as a visiting researcher.
In further exploring her interests in agricultural rural development she was selected to attend the international training programme on community driven rural development, awarded by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in India in 2018. She was previously selected as a participant on the Young African Leader’s Initiative (YALI) Leadership Centre in Southern Africa program in 2017 at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She went on to work as a National Research Fund, project management intern at the Technology Innovation Agency in 2019. She currently works as a student assistant at the writing centre for the Durban University of Technology. Her hobbies include hiking, music, reading and being surrounded by nature. Her passion lies in uplifting and bringing change to the impoverished, with the hope that education will assist her to do greater initiatives in the future. C.V. |
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Manaswini Ganjam, MS StudentManaswini completed an M. Tech in Environmental Geomatics from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Hyderabad, India), for her master's dissertation work she mapped forest burnt area and degradation of forests in Andhra Pradesh, India. Later she worked at the National Geophysical Research Institute, India, on generating tsunami inundation maps using Geospatial technologies. Also, she has experience working as a Project scientist using high-resolution data for mapping coffee growing regions in India. In 2021 Manaswini decided to pursue a PhD at NCSU instead of finishing her second masters at MSU.
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Aaron Kamoske, PhDAaron received a B.S. in Natural Resource Conservation and a certificate in GIS Science and Technologies from the University of Montana’s College of Forestry in 2015. During and following his undergraduate work, he worked on vegetation monitoring projects in the Northern Rockies and as a cartographer for an international NGO. Aaron’s PhD research examined the influences of environmental and anthropogenic variables on closed-canopy forests through the use of imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR remote sensing, spatial statistics, ecological modeling, and field sampling. In 2020 Aaron started a job with the USDA Forest Service at the Geospatial Technology and Applications Center in Salt Lake City. When he is not writing code or sampling forest canopies, he is usually on his bicycle, in the woods, or playing guitar a bit too loud.
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Ryan Nagelkirk, PhDRyan received B.S. degrees in Kinesiology and Environmental Geosciences from Michigan State University in 2007 and 2012, respectively. Following his first degree, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in Depoe Bay, Oregon. In 2010, Ryan came back to school to study climate change and its effects on the planet, especially wildlife. Ryan’s research focuses on detecting and predicting impacts of climate change and land use / land cover change on wildlife habitats in Serengeti National park through the use of remote sensing and modeling. Ryan defended his dissertation and graduated in December of 2020, and started a job with the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys cycling (both riding and building bikes), photography, and reading.
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Gloria Desanker, MSGloria received her B.S. degree in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia in 2015 and received her M.S. in Forestry in 2019. Her thesis research looked at mapping phenoregions in Eastern Africa using remotely sensed data and analyses in R. She also participated as a 2018 Environmental Fellows Program fellow and worked with the Nature Conservancy where she mapped areas that were vulnerable to tree canopy loss in disadvantaged communities of NYC, as well as gained experience and knowledge on how to apply spatial analysis to address the needs of historically underprivileged groups. Gloria went on to work with SFEI in Richmond, CA as an environmental analyst where she helped provide guidance, consultation and performed geospatial analyses on projects such as mapping salmon habitat, beach dynamics, and ecosystem services in urban spaces; quantifying carbon stocks; identifying priority areas for climate resilience; and evaluating relationships between green spaces and health. She now works as an environmental geospatial consultant in the Bay Area, CA. Gloria also teaches yoga, and enjoys photography and biking.
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Sarah Igwe - 2018 (MSU Physiology undergrad)
Opal Jain - 2018 (MSU GEO undergrad)
Logan Brissette - 2017 (MSU FW undergrad) - working as a biological technician at UC Davis
Dom Del Ponte - 2015 (MSU GEO MS-GISci)
Emily Setlock - 2015 (MSU GEO undergrad)
Zach Adham - 2011 (Univ. of Rochester undergrad) - MD student
Alex Kindel - 2011 (Stanford undergrad) - PhD student at Princeton
Julie Ralph - 2009 (Stanford undergrad) - working for Google
Sara Maatta - 2008 (Stanford undergrad)
Chris Fedor - 2008 (Stanford undergrad)
Opal Jain - 2018 (MSU GEO undergrad)
Logan Brissette - 2017 (MSU FW undergrad) - working as a biological technician at UC Davis
Dom Del Ponte - 2015 (MSU GEO MS-GISci)
Emily Setlock - 2015 (MSU GEO undergrad)
Zach Adham - 2011 (Univ. of Rochester undergrad) - MD student
Alex Kindel - 2011 (Stanford undergrad) - PhD student at Princeton
Julie Ralph - 2009 (Stanford undergrad) - working for Google
Sara Maatta - 2008 (Stanford undergrad)
Chris Fedor - 2008 (Stanford undergrad)