Leslie A. Morrissey is an Associate Professor of Natural Resources, having recently joined the School of Natural Resources in 1995. Her research interests include trace gas exchange, wetlands, boreal ecosystems, and global change. Specializing in remote sensing and GIS, she has led several research programs sponsored by NASA. Presently, as a member of the Radarsat Science Team, ERS 1/2 Science Team, Alaska SAR Facility Advisory Group and numerous other NASA and NSF committees, her current research (three funded projects) involves the development of a circumpolar wetlands map. She received her Ph.D. in Geosciences from Oregon State University, with undergraduate degrees in Geography (minor in asian studies). Her research program supports several staff and graduate students utilizing the Spatial Analysis Laboratory.

Austin Troy is an Assistant Professor of Natural Resources, having joined the School in 2001. His research interests include land policy, planning and economics, land use change analysis, urban spatial dynamics and urban growth modeling. He is interested in assessing the causes and environmental impacts of urban sprawl and in developing new spatial metrics for characterizing land use change using GIS and remote sensing. He is also interested in studying how property markets are affected by changes in the environment. He is currently working on a variety of research projects including modeling future urban growth in Vermont and predicting its effects on watershed function and habitat fragmentation under a variety of policy scenarios, assessing the suitability of hayfields and large suburban lawns as sustainable habitat for grassland birds, deriving ecosystem service values for all land cover in the state of New Jersey, and deriving environmentally functional spatial indicators of suburban sprawl for the northern forest. He is additionally a Co-PI on the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, for which he is conducting a number of research projects, including assessing the effects of parks and trees on property values, delineating urban environmental and socio-economic "patches" and understanding the relationship between urban street tree distribution and socio-economic status. He got his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, his Master of Forestry degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and his B.A. from Yale University.

Research Staff

Ernest W. Buford is a research specialist and systems administrator in the Spatial Analysis Lab. He earned a Master of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at the University of Vermont in 1996. His thesis is titled "Abundance and Productivity of Songbirds in a Managed, Forested Landscape in Vermont". Ernie works on several research projects including the Vermont Biodiversity Project, long-term bird monitoring on the Green Mountain National Forest, and Gap Analysis for Vermont and New Hampshire. Ernie's long-standing interest in flying objects, evidenced by a B.S. in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech, eventually focused on birds, which are much cooler than aircraft.

Sean W. MacFaden is a GIS research specialist in the Spatial Analysis Lab. He obtained an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont, where his thesis focused on avian habitat selection at scales ranging from microhabitat to the landscape level. He also has a B.A. in Biology from Williams College and experience in wildlife risk assessment and water-quality monitoring. In the lab, Sean has contributed to numerous GIS-based analyses of wildlife habitat and other natural resources, including identification of potential research natural areas in the White Mountain National Forest and dynamic segmentation of Atlantic salmon habitat data. His previous work has also included assessment of short-term population trends for forest songbirds in the White Mountains. More recently, Sean has developed land-cover maps for several areas in Vermont and New Hampshire using a combination of ortho-rectified aerial photographs and aerial videography. Sean also shares responsibility for maintenance of the Conserved Lands Database for Vermont.

Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne is a Geospatial Specialist in the Spatial Analysis Lab. Jarlath's work varies and includes: feature extraction using high-resolution imagery, nonpoint source pollution modeling, spatial database management, satellite-based change detection, and urban forestry analysis. Much of his work is done in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. In addition, he teaches the GIS Practicum, an upper level GIS course that is offered every spring. Jarlath has been at UVM since 2000, has worked in the SAL on a variety of research projects since 2003, and received his M.S. in Water Resources in 2004. Prior to coming to UVM Jarlath was at the University of New Hampshire where he received his B.S.F. in Forest Science in 1996 and worked throughout his undergraduate years as a research assistant in the Complex Systems Research Center on a variety of projects that employed geospatial technology. After graduating from UNH he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Zoe Richards is a research biologist in the Spatial Analysis Lab. She graduated with a degree in biology from Brown University and received her M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont. Her research interest is in avian ecology, and her thesis work focused on the effects of forest fragmentation on the Black-throated Blue Warbler. Recent projects in the lab have focused on habitat modeling of songbirds and wildlife conservation planning on the Green Mountain National Forest and watershed level wildlife analyses for the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. Recent field projects include a multiple year study of the impacts of Double-crested Cormorants on nesting Great Blue Herons on Lake Champlain.

Graduate Students

Ken Bagstad 's research spans the fields of ecological economics and spatial analysis. His research interests include valuation of natural capital and ecosystem services and alternative measures of social welfare (e.g., Genuine Progress Indicator), and how these change across temporal and spatial scales across the urban-rural gradient. Ken began his professional life as a plant ecologist, receiving his B.A. in botany and environmental studies from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1999. He also completed his M.S. from Arizona State University in 2002, studying the conflicts between groundwater pumping and ecosystem health of the San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona. Before coming to UVM, he worked as an environmental consultant in Chicago, Illinois, and was active in restoration of native ecosystems in the Midwestern U.S.

Britt Haselton is a M.S. student in Natural Resources. As a research assistant for Dave Capen, he is working on prioritizing lakeshores for conservation in the Northern Forest. He obtained a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College, and spent a couple of years traveling and working before embarking on his graduate school adventures. Originally from Williston, Vermont, Britt enjoys outdoor activities and sitting in traffic.

Ashley Lidman is a first year Master's student in Natural Resources. She's working with Austin Troy on a study of vegetation and social structure in Baltimore, MD as part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES). Originally from Rhode Island, Ashley received a degree in Urban Studies from Brown University and then went on to teach environmental education up and down the East Coast. She worked for the Urban Ecology Institute in Boston, studying bird biodiversity and water quality with urban students; in the White Mountains for the Appalachian Mountain Club; and in DC for Casey Trees, an urban forestry organization. When not learning new botany or GIS terminology, she enjoys playing soccer, climbing and practicing Spanish.

Brian Miles is a graduate research assistant working with Dr. Troy on a dynamic transportation and land use model for Chittenden County, Vermont. He has a B.S. in Information and Decision Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. Brian has experience with web application development and other areas of computer programming. Farming and music are among his varied interests.

Corinne Novetti is a first year graduate student pursuing a M.S. in Wildlife Biology. She is working with Dr. Capen, and the topic of her research has yet to reveal itself. After receiving a Biology degree from Bucknell University, Corinne moved back home to Long Island and worked for the Department of Environmental Conservation in NYC as an environmental educator. After the hustle and bustle of New York City became too much, Corinne decided to move to Vermont where she could further her degree and live in a place more suiting to her active lifestyle.

Rebecca Pfeiffer started at the Rubenstein School in 2004 and works with Allan Strong. As a research assistant in the SAL, she has worked on calculating land use cover for Woodcock singing-ground survey routes and digitizing riparian corridors in Vermont. For her masters work, she has created a 1984 Landuse and Landcover map for Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties and is assessing the change in landuse and afforestation between 1984 and 2002 for grassland breeding bird habitat. She enjoys lots of activities, but most especially kayaking, birding, knitting, hiking and snowshoeing, skiing and watching her dog run around in the woods.

Lexie Reiss is a graduate student in Natural Resources. She is currently working with Austin Troy on an urban growth simulation model (UrbanSim) for Chittenden County. General research interests include the application of spatial analysis and ecological economics to issues of planning for smart growth. She received her B.A. in environmental studies from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY and has since been working in the field of Green Building as project manager for a smart growth development project in Hinesburg, Vermont. Recently she has been pretty good at keeping up with running, hiking, biking, etc. and hopes to continue this with the addition of school and maybe a weaving project on the side.

Brian Voigt is a Ph.D. student studying under the careful guidance of Dr. Austin Troy. He is currently applying an urban growth simulation model (UrbanSim) to central Vermont to explore changes to the landscape and test land use policy options for guiding future development. Other research interests include land conversion, economics, and GIS. Brian has a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.A. in Sociology from Miami University and a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning. Prior to enrolling at UVM, Brian worked for 6 years at the Washington State Department of Ecology as the Coastal Planner for the Southwest Washington Coastal Erosion Study.

Weiqi Zhou is a Ph.D. student working with Austin Troy. His research focuses on geospatial techniques (remote sensing, GIS), and their applications in environmental and natural resource management. He is especially interested in applying geospatial techniques in characterizing and analyzing landscape structures in human-dominated ecosystems, and investigating how they are related to nutrient fluxes (e.g., N, P) in urban watersheds. He currently works on the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) project. His work includes 1) developing an object-oriented framework for classifying and analyzing the complex mix of vegetation and development in urban landscapes at the parcel level, using high-resolution digital aerial imagery and LIght Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data; and 2) examining whether remotely sensed indices of lawn greenness can be used to predict residential lawn practices, such as fertilizer applications. Weiqi has a B.A. in Environmental Science from Beijing University, and a Master's degree in Cartography & Geographic Information Systems from the Institute of Remote Sensing, Chinese Academy of Science. Weiqi joined the SAL in 2004.

Emma Jane is a graduate student in the Spatial Analysis Lab. Originally born in St. Albans, VT Emma joined the SAL is 2002. Emma is currently working on her PhD thesis entitled "A Multi-Diagnostical Framework for the Spatial Analysis of Finite Temporal Geospatial Data." A self-proclaimed "GIS nerd" Emma has done pioneering research in satellite-based change detection, photogrammetric engineering, GIS modeling, and object-oriented spatial database design. Emma also serves as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate geospatial courses. When she is not working on her PhD Emma enjoys long walks, napping, scratching, and playing with her friend Ellie, a Husky-Lab mix.