Amy Wotherspoon
Amy (she/her) is originally from Ontario where she completed her B.Sc. at the University of Guelph in environmental biology and forest science and a M.Sc. in carbon sequestration potential of agroforestry systems.She left the flat lands of southwestern Ontario for the Quebecois forests and ended up at the Université de Sherbrooke to complete her PhD in forest ecology. There, she studied the interactions between silviculture treatments and climate through a diversified approach of functional ecology, soil chemistry, tree physiology and dendrochronology.In the hunt for bigger trees, Amy moved to UBC to become a Postdoctoral Fellow as part of the Silva21 project and is responsible for generating climate envelopes and exploring climate modifiers and their effect on tree growth, as well as implications of climate change for forest management across Canada. She is also the project’s scientific coordinator and unofficial French-English translator, graphic and web designer, social media rep and HQP cheerleader.Outside the world of academia, Amy is a nutrition coach and crossfitter. She enjoys working out as a way to prepare for the hiking season and to balance out patio beers and restaurant exploring.
Leonard Hambrecht
Leonard is researching the use of copter and fixed-wing drones for surveys of wildlife populations, a long-standing career goal. Specifically, his research aims to leverage the benefits of drones in combination with thermal imaging technology and AI-based image analysis to enhance and support existing aerial survey methods. As part of the TerraLuma research group, Leonard completed his PhD at the University of Tasmania, AU, in 2024, where he gained experience in drone-based remote sensing techniques, particularly lidar. Originally from Germany, he holds an M.Sc. in Wildlife Conservation & Drone Technology from Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and a B.Sc. in Wildlife Management from Van Hall University of Applied Sciences, NL.
Juan Pedro Carbonell-Rivera
Juan Pedro is a Spanish geomatics engineer, born in Córdoba and raised in Valencia. He earned his PhD in Geomatics Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), where he focused on developing remote sensing methodologies for fine-scale forest structure characterization and the estimation of fire-related variables using UAV-based digital aerial photogrammetry (UAV-DAP). His research integrated photogrammetric point cloud segmentation and classification using machine learning and deep learning techniques to identify species composition and derive key variables such as aboveground biomass.
Currently, Juan Pedro contributes to national-scale mapping of forest fuel attributes across Canada. His work integrates LiDAR data, radiative transfer simulations, and optical satellite imagery to develop scalable workflows that link LiDAR-derived structure with Landsat time series, enabling the extrapolation of vegetation and fuel characteristics across diverse forest ecosystems.
Ramon Melser
Ramon grew up in the coastal province of Zeeland, The Netherlands. After moving to Canada, he completed his B.A. in Environment & Sustainability (Geography) at UBC, where he was first introduced to applications of remote sensing and GIS for environmental issues and conservation efforts. To develop these skills further, he then completed a masters in geomatics (M.G.E.M.) in the Faculty of Forestry. Ramon simply could not get enough of remote sensing, and went on to complete his PhD in the IRSS, where his research focused on advancing remote sensing approaches for monitoring the boreal carbon cycle.
Ramon is now a postdoctoral researcher in the lab, continuing to build on his work by further development and validation of multi-source remote sensing approaches for enhanced assessment of boreal carbon dynamics.
Outside the of the lab, you can find Ramon in A) a kitchen supply store, B) the ocean, or C) a mosh pit.
Leanna Stackhouse
Leanna is from Philadelphia, USA, and obtained her bachelor’s degree in geological sciences and a graduate certificate in geomatics from the University of Delaware. She began as a MSc student in the IRSS and quickly converted to a PhD, where her dissertation focused on characterizing riparian vegetation structure and its impact on salmon-bearing watersheds on Vancouver Island, Canada, using airborne and drone laser scanning. As a postdoctoral researcher, Leanna is continuing her line of research on the intersection of fisheries, forestry, and novel applications of remote sensing for native trout habitat in the foothills region of Alberta. Her recent work examines the impact of disturbances such as wildfires and forest harvesting to stream light and thermal regimes.
Outside of work, Leanna loves baking, the product of which you can usually find in the IRSS at our weekly lab meetings and on defense days.
Tommaso Trotto
Tommaso was born in the countryside near Venice, Italy, where he once dreamed of becoming a forester in the Alps. At the same time, he had always aspired to move abroad and explore the wild and remote forests of Canada. Before long, he made his way to Vancouver and completed his PhD in the Integrated Remote Sensing Studio (IRSS) at the University of British Columbia.
During this time, Tommaso became deeply impressed by the versatility, technical depth, and integration of remote sensing into forestry. From alpine dreams to cutting-edge research, Tommaso is now pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship in the IRSS, focusing on the interesection of lidar and satellite data to investigate ways to model forest fuels and monitor their spatio-temporal variability — work that is increasingly important for forest management in the face of intensifying forest fires.
When he’s not in the lab, you can find him playing tennis, biking, climbing, enjoying the beach, or sharing a good Italian meal with friends.
Brent Murray
Brent Murray is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Geography with a focus in geomatics. He expanded his knowledge and skillset for remote sensing through the Master or Geomatics for Environmental Management (MGEM) program at UBC. After his time in MGEM, he worked as a GIS Specialist in Kelowna, BC, specializing in remote sensing. Brent is now a postdoctoral researcher in the IRSS lab, focusing on tree species and wood quality prediction using multisource remote sensing data and deep learning algorithms.
Brent enjoys spending time with friends over good food and beer. He also loves spending time hiking, canoeing, and camping.
Harry Seely
Harry grew up in Surrey, BC and has loved the great outdoors since he was young. Harry completed his undergraduate degree in Biology at the university of Guelph, specializing in Wildlife conservation. After developing a passion for GIS, cartography, and remote sensing, he decided to further pursue these skills as a career. In 2022, Harry completed the Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management (MGEM) and a doctoral thesis in the IRSS.
Harry’s research applies deep neural networks (DNNs) to estimate aboveground biomass in forests across Canada. This work brings together several different datasets, including provincial forest inventory, airborne LiDAR, and multispectral satellite imagery. A major focus in this research is transferring effective artificial intelligence methods to forest applications, including data fusion, self-supervised learning, and deep ensembles.
When he’s not spinning point clouds and tweaking DNNs in the lab, Harry enjoys bikepacking, swimming and playing beer league soccer.
Liam Irwin
