Ryan Powers   rppowers@interchange.ubc.ca Ryan Powers was born in Sechelt, BC, the small picturesque town tucked between the waters of Georgia Strait and the Sechelt Inlet. He was raised for most of his childhood on Vancouver Island BC, but returned to his birth place for his high school years. As a youth, he spent much of his time exploring the hundreds of kilometres of beautiful coastlines and the many mountains and old growth forest in the region. Ryan continues to enjoy the outdoors, and has recently actively taken up sailing. Ryan received his BSc in Geography from the University of Victoria in 2006. During his BSc Ryan specialized in Remote Sensing, Spatial Statistics, GIS, and wetland classification. Building upon his B.Sc work, Ryan completed his MSc from the University of Calgary in 2009, where his research involved employing a Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) approach to estimate the differences in detected wetlands when high-resolution imagery (<5m) and medium-resolution (>10m) imagery are used. As a PhD student at UBC, Ryan’s current research focus is on the application of Remote Sensing imagery to biodiversity assessment and reserve selection across Canada’s Boreal Forests.
Olivier Tsui   otsui1@gmail.com Olivier was born in Paris and immigrated to the beautiful and culturally diverse city of Montréal, Québec in the early 80’s. Raised in a family of culinary chefs and restauranteurs, Olivier at a young age developed a fondness for gastronomy and the culinary arts and is often seen eating. When not eating, Olivier managed to graduate from McGill University with a biology degree. Unsure what to do with his recent degree, he decided to take a plunge into the field of GIS and remote sensing and moved to Vancouver, B.C. to complete the Advanced GIS Diploma Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. After graduating from BCIT, Olivier worked at MDA Geospatial Services, CH2M HILL, and Hatfield Consultants. Developing an increased interest in remote sensing, especially RADAR technology, Olivier decide to put aside his aspiration of opening is own culinary restaurant to further his knoweldge. Aside from always searching for the best noodle shop and hidden culinary gems, Olivier is currently pursuing a M.Sc. at the University of British Columbia. His current research project focuses on the application of polarimetric SAR and LiDAR integration to improve large area forest biomass estimates.
Colin Ferster       cferster@interchange.ubc.ca Colin Ferster is researching the use of mobile personal communication devices, such as smartphones, to collect and map ecological data. Mobile personal communication devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, creating a global network of sensors equipped with instruments capable of collecting ecological data, such as a camera, compass, and GPS. In many cases, mobile personal communication devices may compliment airborne or spaceborne remote sensing instruments, for example, by making measurements under dense forest canopies, with high temporal frequency, recording rare events, and engaging citizen scientists to help answer critical research questions about earth systems.Colin is currently working towards a PhD. Previously, Colin completed an MSc (honours) in the IRSS in forest carbon science, integrating GIS, LiDAR, optical remote sensing, and forest inventory methods. Colin competed a BSc (with distinction) at the University of Victoria. In addition, Colin has completed co-op workterms for the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines Resource Information Section and Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre.
Rory Tooke    rorytooke@gmail.com Rory was raised in rural Ontario on a small hobby farm with numerous barnyard beasts including horses, chickens, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats, and a donkey. Camping and canoeing were introduced to him at a young age, and many summers were spent in Ontario’s provincial parks. Rory’s enthusiasm for outdoor activities has been a deciding factor in his relocation to Vancouver, BC, where he currently spends his summers on his bicycle and winters on his snowboard. As an undergraduate student Rory had a taste of various courses from economics to philosophy until discovering his passion for Geography while attending the University of Otago in New Zealand. Between years of formal education, Rory took time to live and explore different societies and cultures in Canada and around the world. This mosaic of experience and education has inspired Rory to further investigate connections between place and people through his Masters degree where he is researching relationships between physical land cover patterns and socio-economic variables in urban environments.
Andrés Varhola      avarhola@interchange.ubc.ca Andres Varhola was born in Quito, Ecuador, on September 1978. At a young age he showed a lot of passion for trees so in 1997 he started his undergraduate preparation as a Forest Engineer in Universidad Austral de Chile (Valdivia, Chile). After getting his degree and back at home he was hired by Fundación Forestal Juan Manuel Durini and Aglomerados Cotopaxi (brother institutions that belong to Ecuador’s biggest Forestry holding) as the Silviculture Head, including forest fire protection and Research & Development. After working for five years he decided to complete his education as a Forestry PhD Student at UBC. His current main research project focuses on the application of remote sensing technologies to improve hydrologic modelling.
Baozhang Chen  Baozhang.Chen@ubc.ca Baozhang Chen received a MS in Marine Geology from Tongji University in 1988 and a PhD in Geological Survey & Prospecting from China University of Mining Technology  in 1999. He worked at GIS & Remote Sensing Lab at University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow (2001-2004) and a research associate (2004-2006) and at the Biometeorology and Soil Physics Group at University of British Columbia (2006 -2007). For some reason, he started his secondary Ph.D. study from January 2008 at UBC. His thesis focuses on developing a predictive understanding of coupled terrestrial carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics at ecosystem and regional scales. Baozhang is interested in examining the current ecosystem processes and exchanges (energy, carbon, nitrogen and water) that occur at the interfaces of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and human dimensions. He has worked at a broad spatial scale based on remote sensing and GIS techniques. His main professional interests focus on understanding patterns and mechanisms of ecosystem dynamics under changing climatic conditions and applying my research results to practical managements for sustainable development. He has published numerous academic papers in these fields. Baozhang enjoys outdoor sports such as kayaking, hiking and skiing.
Martin van Leeuwen vanleeuwen.martin@gmail.com Being born in Holland, Martin was raised with the beauty of tulips, daffodils, and the sheer amount of colours that these flowers bring with them. Although he did like these little colourful gifts of nature, it may have been the rarity of seeing forests in his country that made him decide to pursue his career among trees. He started his undergraduate preparation at Wageningen University (The Netherlands) in Forest- and Nature conservation. He soon realized the eminent value of remote sensing to forest science. Therefore, in 2005, Martin started his M.Sc. at Wageningen University in Geo-Information Science, where he developed a decent background in multi-, and hyperspectral remote sensing. This study definitely boosted his enthusiasm. In fact, he liked it so much that he decided to have a look into lidar remote sensing as well at University College Dublin (Ireland). While copping in this work to gain a second M.Sc., his ultimate goal is to combine all this knowledge in his Ph.D. research at the University of British Columbia. Standing on the forefront of his Ph.D., Martin overlooks the rich path, full of possibilities and strengths that UBC provides him to find improved means to determine light use efficiencies in Canada’s extensive forests as to support forest growth modelling. Martin appreciates any leads that may help him attaining his goal.
Jean-Simon Michaud michaud2@interchange.ubc.ca Jean-Simon Michaud was born in December 1984 and raised in a suburb just north of Montréal, Québec. City life was appealing, so he enrolled in a geomatics program at the Collège Ahuntsic in Montréal. After getting his degree, J-S worked for one year as a distribution service manager for Hydro Québec. Although he enjoyed his time with Hydro Québec, he quickly realized that he missed doing cartography and managing natural resources as part of his daily job. Thus, he moved on to pursue a Bachelor`s degree in Applied Environmental Geomatics at the Université de Sherbrooke, QC. During this time, he worked with Nature Conservancy Canada to develop an evaluation system to assess the value of aquatic ecosystems which would serve to guide conservation efforts in southern Québec. Jean-Simon`s growing interest in conservation and wildlife management using remote sensing and GIS have lead him to pursue a M.Sc. at the University of British Columbia. He is now researching the relationship between the biomass or the foliage vigor (driven by remote sensing) and wildlife behavior. Although he may not hold the title of youngest PhD student in the faculty of forestry, Jean-Simon is the youngest of his group and greatly appreciates the advise of his colleagues. During his spare time, Jean-Simon likes to go hiking, sailing, biking, kayaking, snowboarding and wind surfing.
Doug Bolton doug.k.bolton@gmail.com  Doug was born and raised on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. As the beach life of most Cape Cod residents was too much for his pale skin, Doug spent his youth with his drum set, playing baseball, and snowboarding. While he still plays the drums and snowboards, he also enjoys rock climbing, hiking and playing tennis. He received his bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and his master's degree in Remote Sensing and GIS from Boston University. Doug's work at BU included predicting crop yields in the United States with MODIS data and mapping the spread of insect infestations through New England with Landsat time-series data. Following the completion of his master's degree, he took off to the west coast to pursue his PhD at the University of British Columbia. Doug's work at UBC involves using a combination of LiDAR and optical remote sensing to better understand forest recovery following disturbances. In addition to his work, he is looking forward to three great years of exploring British Columbia, snowboarding Whistler, and learning the metric system.
Greg Rickbeil grickbeil@gmail.com Greg Rickbeil grew up in the diverse metropolis of New Westminster, BC. After brief stints at SFU, UVIC and in the circus, Greg finished a B.Sc. in Conservation at UBC. Greg`s interests in avian ecology and technology in conservation made his decision to join IRSS an easy one. His research is investigating the feasibility of using remotely sensed data to model bird species abundance and distribution in British Columbia. In his free time, Greg can be found stalking sparrows in the South Okanagan or at his cabin at Christina Lake.
Adam Erickson   adam.michael.erickson@gmail.com   Adam was born in the port town of Aberdeen, Washington in the United States. He spent part of his youth in the state capitol city of Olympia, trading the scattered showers of Gray's Harbor for the constant drizzle of Puget Sound. He has fond memories of time spent with family and friends in the Olympic Mountains, as well as sea kayaking amongst a cornucopia of seals, otters, crabs, eagles, jellyfish, cormorants, herons, oysters, sandpipers, gulls, and salmon. Adam received a BA in International Political Economy from nearby University of Puget Sound, sparking his initial interest in research. After a stint as a marketing professional while volunteering with The Nature Conservancy on weekends, he received a Master of Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. He completed a GIS Internship at the City of Eugene, where he developed novel land use analyses, and at San Diego Coastkeeper, where he improved regional hydrologic modeling. Adam has a background in public policy, having completed an undergraduate thesis on the global effects of transportation policy and a graduate thesis on state-level watershed management frameworks in the Pacific Northwest. His ultimate goal is to help improve the social-ecological resilience of the region.   Adam is thrilled to pursue a PhD at UBC's prestigious Faculty of Forestry. His research utilizes GIS-based ecological modeling and remote sensing data to simulate the effects of climate change on forest ecosystem and carbon dynamics. The first phase of his project applies a new forest ecosystems model extension to a management unit in the Central Interior of British Columbia, utilizing historic satellite data for model verification and improvement. The second phase of his project applies the improved model extension to western Alberta in order to simulate the impacts of climate change on critical grizzly bear habitat under different management regimes. The first phase of Adam's research is conducted in collaboration with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations while the second phase is intended to inform policy on the management of an iconic national Species of Special Concern. Adam is open to opportunities for collaboration.
Ryan Frazier farawayhillsaregreener@gmail.com   Ryan Frazier was born and raised in Boston Massachusetts and was consistently let down by the local professional sports teams for 20 years. Despite this and dreams of making the big leagues, he attended Clark University and received a bachelor's degree in Geography and his master's degree in Geographic Information Science. During this time he worked in a large area mapping and monitoring program that mapped forest cover over Massachusetts using multiple years of Landsat data. Since graduating Ryan has been employed as a GIS Analyst at an environmental consulting company mapping all kinds interesting things, but specializing in electric transmission lines. In his free time Ryan enjoys snowboarding in the winter and biking in the summer. As a PhD student at UBC, Ryan is looking forward to using remotely sensed imagery in the application of forest mapping.