Alison joined FEMC as the Director in 2022. Alison brings a wealth of experience in interdisciplinary environmental work, spanning disciplines from remote sensing and landscape modeling to ecosystem services and stakeholder engagement. She has a M.S. and a PhD in Natural Resources from UVM; the former focused on mapping forest change in New England, while the latter examined how environmental change affects cultural ecosystem services. Alison previously developed Lake Champlain Sea Grant's Watershed Forestry Partnership. She has also worked in environmental advocacy and community outreach in Washington, DC. Outside of work she can usually be found hiking, rock climbing, or exploring the woods looking for interesting mushrooms.

Soren has a passion for using data and technology to understand and address some of the environmental challenges that face the regions forests. He has a background in Forestry and Survey Engineering with a foundation in statistical analysis and data visualization and is skilled at using a range of tools and techniques to extract insights from complex data sets. In his current role, he works with a variety of data sources to understand trends and patterns in forest structure, health, stand dynamics, biodiversity, and climate change. He uses his skills in spatial analysis and GIS mapping to visualize data and assists in building data driven web tools that display synthesized findings designed to be useful for a wide range of audiences. He is committed to using his skills to drive positive change and make usable tools for researchers and landowners alike. Whether working with policy makers, community groups, or businesses, he is dedicated to finding innovative and effective ways to use data to monitor and provide tools to assess the forested landscape.

Jen works with the FEMC Director and serves as a bridge between FEMC and the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources which is FEMC's organizational home within the University of Vermont. Her research is cross-disciplinary with the ultimate goal of scaling plot-based forest health relationships to a landscape-scale using remote sensing and GIS modeling. To date, this work has focused on the detection and mapping of pre-visual forest decline symptoms resulting from invasive species, global climate change and acid deposition/nutrient depletion. These techniques provide a much-needed tool for the early detection of new and existing stressors and will allow forest management agencies to focus management efforts before stands are severely impacted.

Ben is the Monitoring Coordinator for FEMC. He oversees the forest health monitoring program, maintains FEMC's other environmental monitoring networks, and works with the monitoring data to help our partners assess long-term changes in our forested ecosystems. He comes to the FEMC from the USDA Agricultural Research Service where he served as a Research Ecologist based in Boise, Idaho. He has a background in post-fire restoration, invasive and rare plant ecology, continuous forest inventory and monitoring, remote sensing, and data management. He has worked in a variety of environments ranging from northeastern forests of NY and VT, riparian and montane forests of Colorado, and throughout the Great Basin. Outside of work, he enjoys traditional woodworking, telemark skiing, and natural building.

Matt is the Monitoring and Outreach Specialist with FEMC for the 2024-2025 season. He will be assisting with gathering data for various monitoring projects, annual conference coordination, and quality assurance for the upcoming field season. He is joining FEMC with an extensive background in wildlife conservation, with some projects including long-term monitoring of forest recovery and wildlife in Puerto Rico and graduate research on elephant behavior and communication at Zoo Atlanta. Matt received his B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University, and his M.A. in Animal Behavior and Conservation from Hunter College, both in his native New York. In his spare time, he likes exploring the outdoors, trying foods from all cultures, and meeting new people.

Elissa is currently serving as the Assistant Director. She is continuing to connect with partners and support the Cooperative. She comes from a background of field ecology research and also has experience managing programs and conducting communication and outreach. She uses her scientific understanding and background to connect academia, state and local agencies, community stakeholders, and the general public to research findings and program outcomes. In addition to her work with FEMC, Elissa is also pursuing a PhD in Sustainable Development, Policy, Economics, and Governance with a focus on understanding drivers of decision-making, especially focused on behaviors and actions people take toward addressing climate change and natural resource challenges.

Matthias is working to collect and archive overlooked datasets throughout New England and New York. He has monitored forests as they relate to declining bird species across the United States and has pursued his interest in geospatial techniques between field seasons through the UVM Spatial Analysis Lab.

Nate is a work study student in Computer Science and helps with web and database development.

Nancy Voorhis is a Web and Database Developer for the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC). She helps guide the web development team which is responsible for development and management of the FEMC data archive, website, and associated cyberinfrastructure and performs backend, frontend and server programming and helps design and build the FEMC's data drive tools. She most recently worked as a consultant developing software, performing web and database backend programming and providing system and network support to nonprofits and educational institutions. She started her career working for the USDA Forest Service as a Research Forester. Outside of work, she enjoys being active, and preferably outside, pursuing hiking, biking, cross country skiing, tennis, swimming – depending on the season.

Xana began as the Front End Web Developer for the FEMC in July 2020 and has since moved into the role of web and database developer. While she concentrates on the front end web development, she works with the web development team on the other aspects of the development and management of the FEMC data archive, website, and associated cyberinfrastructure and helps build the FEMC's data drive tools. She is happy to be back in Vermont after an 8 year hiatus working as a technical support engineer in San Francisco. In her free time Xana enjoys hiking with her dog, Biscuit, making stained glass artwork, and riding her motorcycle.