Eliceo Ruiz Guzman
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. Before arriving to Vancouver, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Agronomic Engineering at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. He worked with the National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP), studying how wildfires affect the natural regeneration of pine in the forests of Jalisco. Eliceo completed his Master’s degree in Environmental Conservation at UW-Madison, focusing on Observation and Informatics, where he worked with hyperspectral images and machine learning modeling to map tree species distribution in Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin, USA. He is now joining IRSS to pursue his PhD, using remote sensing to assess fire fuel and extreme weather risks along the North American Pacific Coast, from Alaska to California.
Outside his career pursuits, Eliceo enjoys playing the drums, hiking, and capturing photos of wildlife and landscapes.
Hiroto Goto
Hi, my name is Hiroto. I’m originally from Japan but spent my childhood in New York. I completed my BSc at Kyushu University in Japan, in the Faculty of Agriculture. During my time there, I gained experience in wildlife monitoring and was first introduced to the use of remote sensing for forest management. My thesis focused on using satellite data to estimate the diversity and distribution of terrestrial mammals across Japan.
Outside of academics, I’m a huge fan of music, especially playing the piano. I also enjoy occasional exercise and outdoor activities as well.
Madison Brown
Madison Brown grew up in Perth, Australia, and Bologna, Italy, but spent most of her childhood in Bend, OR, USA. She moved to Vancouver in 2017; completing a Bsc. in Plant and Soil Sciences with a minor in Geological Science (2021). She initial became intrigued by the numerous applications of remote sensing while undertaking a directed studies project looking at detecting glacial retreats impact on agricultural resources using Landsat imagery. After graduating she worked as Geologist/GIS Manager in Northern BC before returning to UBC.
Her MSc. research focuses on focuses on detecting and assessing the impact of non-stand replacing disturbance (mostly insects) utilizing both Landsat/Sentinel-2 times series and LiDAR. Outside of her research she enjoys skiing, drinking coffee, cycling, trail running, podcast walks and craft projects.
Tristan Douglas
Tristan grew up on the estuary of Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island. While pursuing his undergrad in micro/molecular biology, his interests gravitated towards microbial ecology and the bottom-up influence of microbes on ecosystem functions, including their role in global climate-change mitigation. After gaining his bachelor’s degree, Tristan became active with an NGO called the Cowichan Estuary Restoration and Conservation Association (CERCA) and began an MSc at the University of Victoria, looking at carbon sequestration in Cowichan Bay, British Columbia, with a particular focus on the primary production of the intertidal biofilms (a.k.a. microphytobenthos) on the mudflats. During this time, he also interned for CERCA and did microphytobenthos-related contract work for Environment and Climate Change Canada. As a PhD candidate at IRSS, Tristan is mapping and monitoring biofilms in Fraser River Delta, a critical stopover site for migratory birds.
When not in the field or lab, Tristan has a secret life as a musician where he releases and tours music on Planet Mu records, UK. He is also keen on the outdoors and food.
Evan Gerbrecht
Evan was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, then went and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria in Geography, with a focus in Geomatics and GIS. This is where he got his first introduction into remote sensing, resource management and conservation, which led him now into working in the lab as a PhD student. His research focuses on the generation of fire fuel information across mountain pine beetle infestation mosaics, investigating how the level of beetle attack impacts wildfire behavior using drone based LiDAR.
Outside of the lab Evan enjoys nearly anything outdoors, in the summer he competes in trail running as well as stand-up paddleboard racing at an international level. While in the winter, he skis, snowboards and plays hockey when he has time.
Liam Irwin
Kirk Johnson
Kirk is a PhD student exploring risks that are likely to impact forest landscapes using forest estate planning tools, climate-informed models, and remote sensing data. His work will also consider spatially-explicit management strategies and adaptive silvicultural treatments, assessing their cumulative impact on forest growth. Growing up in the forest country of Northern Idaho, Kirk completed his BSc in Forest Resources at the University of Idaho and moved north, pursuing an MSc in Forest Biology and Management at the University of Alberta. There, he focused on reforestation silviculture and modeling growth in juvenile white spruce plantations. After his MSc, Kirk worked at the University of Alberta and became an associate developer of the Mixedwood Growth Model (MGM), a tree-level growth model for mixed-species stands in the western Canadian boreal forest. While working with MGM, Kirk incorporated climate-sensitive functions into the model, created new modules for site index and self-thinning, and explored climate effects on stand yields. He also supported a comprehensive review of MGM for forest management planning in Alberta.
Outside of work, Kirk enjoys hiking, skiing, and exploring the landscapes of western Canada.
James Maltman
James grew up in and around Seattle, Washington. He completed a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington in Political Science, focusing on Environmental Politics. Deciding he wanted to pursue environmental science more, he gained a Masters in Environmental Protection and Management from the University of Edinburgh, with his dissertation examining the use of photogrammetry to evaluate the impact of rock climbing on cliffside biodiversity.
After spending a year out of academia working as a sustainability consultant, he joined the lab in 2021, with his current research attempting to predict forest age Canada wide using landscape level satellite data.
Outside of work, he is an avid skier, climber, and hiker, who enjoys a good book as much as a big day in the mountains.
Ramon Melser
Ramon was born and raised in the Netherlands, but moved to the Vancouver area in 2012. He graduated with a BA in Environment & Sustainability from the UBC Geography department in 2019, which is where he was first introduced to applications of remote sensing and GIS for environmental issues and conservation. Eager to grow his geomatics skillset, he returned to UBC after a year of travelling and went on to complete the Faculty of Forestry’s MGEM program in 2021. The MGEM experience led him to join the IRSS, where he is a research scientist working on enhanced carbon dynamics and land cover change assessment using integrated satellite-derived datasets and analysis approaches.
In his free time, Ramon is an avid foodie, explorer of the great outdoors, and enjoys going to concerts.
Evan Muise
Evan Muise was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, obtaining his undergrad degree in environmental sciences with a GIS certificate. Evan is working towards his PhD in the IRSS using forest structure and productivity metrics to examine ecological integrity across the forested ecosystems of British Columbia.
Outside of work, Evan spends his time with his dog, Shadow, cooking food for his friends (or just himself), and enjoying the variety of beers found in British Columbia.
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 PhD student 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.
Lucas Olson
Lukas is a Vancouverite who grew up sailing, hiking, and camping throughout the Gulf Islands. He earned his bachelor’s degree in urban forestry from the University of British Columbia in 2023. Lukas’s interest in remote sensing and geomatics was sparked after working as a programmer for a Geomatics Professor as an undergraduate student. Lukas joined the IRSS as a master’s student to assess the potential of using new technologies such as mobile LiDAR and photogrammetry systems, sensor networks, and drones within the forest understory to collect accurate and cost-effective measurements.
When not in the lab, Lukas enjoys spending time camping, programming video games, and cooking.
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. Identifying the parallels between Wildlife management and forestry, Harry applied to the Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management (MGEM) program at UBC. During his time in MGEM, Harry realized that coding in R can be fun (except when it’s infuriating). He focused on a research project that used area-based LiDAR metrics to map snags in the Interior Douglas-Fir Zone of British Columbia. This research led him to pursue a PhD in the IRSS lab which applies deep learning algorithms to estimate tree biomass and carbon using LiDAR and Digital Aerial Photogrammetry. Overall, Harry’s research priority is ensuring effective science communication to improve environmental decision making in Canada.
In his free time, Harry enjoys biking around Vancouver, backcountry camping, and hanging out with his cat.
Spencer Shields
Spencer is a master’s student whose research focuses on using constellations of micro-satellites to help characterize the nature and severity of forest disturbances. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, he also completed a Bachelor’s of Science in Natural Resource Conservation at UBC. His interest in ecology, conservation, and resource management is rooted in his own love of the outdoors and his background working in adventure tourism: from 2014 to 2019, he led wilderness trips in New Zealand, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, and his native British Columbia. This experience working in diverse ecosystems, with clients and co-workers from a variety of backgrounds, continues to shape his approach to environmental science and education. As a member of the IRSS, he is excited to be developing tools to help facilitate landscape-scale decision making.
When he’s not in the lab, he can usually be found climbing, sea kayaking, or seeking out new brewery patios.
Sarah Smith-Tripp
sarahsmith.tripp@alumni.ubc.ca
Sarah is a proud Oregonian-British Columbia transplant. She spent her undergrad studying geosciences on the east coast at Wellesley College near Boston. Her research passions have taken her all around the world – Lake Baikal in Russia, Mongolia, and even two months sailing a tall ship across the South Pacific. Upon graduating undergrad, she couldn’t wait to move back west to complete an MSc in Geography at UBC (May 2021). Her research allows her to do one of her favorite things – tromp around burned forests.
Some of her other pass times include running, backpacking, and cycling. Sarah is an incoming PhD student modeling forest regeneration following the wide-spread and severe BC wildfires in 2017-18. To do so, she uses a combination of satellite data (landsat, MODIS) and high-resolution Lidar and drone data. She remains inspired by the great outdoors and wishes to help preserve what has made her life so wonderful for many generations to come.
Leanna Stackhouse
Leanna is a PhD candidate whose research is in the intersection of fisheries, forestry, and applications of remote sensing. Her thesis focuses on characterizing riparian vegetation structure and its impact on salmon-bearing watersheds on Vancouver Island, Canada, using airborne and drone laser scanning. Prior to starting at UBC, Leanna obtained her bachelor’s degree in geological sciences and a graduate certificate in geographic information systems from the University of Delaware. Her first hands-on experience in research was assisting with paleontological digs in Montana, USA, where she was infamous for never finding a single bone (but helping excavate plenty others).
Outside of work, Leanna loves baking, the product of which you can usually find in the IRSS on lab meeting days.
Hana Travers-Smith
Hana is a PhD student who joined the IRSS in 2022. Their research investigates changes in vegetation productivity and structure along Canada’s northern treeline driven by a warming climate.
Hana grew up in Victoria, British Columbia and completed their Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the University of Victoria. Their Master’s research used remote sensing tools to explore how permafrost thaw and climate change have impacted lakes and ponds across the Northwest Territories and Yukon. They hope to one day to return to the Arctic and experience the northern lights!
Outside of the lab Hana enjoys playing soccer and ultimate frisbee and taking cute photos of their cat, Henry.
Tommaso Trotto
Tommaso was born in the countryside of Venice, Italy, where he once dreamed to become a forester in the Alps. Yet, he had always had the aspiration to move abroad and discover the wild and remote forests of Canada. Soon after, Tommaso made it to Vancouver and completed a double-degree Master’s program in Forestry (TRANSFOR-M) between the University of Padova, Italy, and UBC. During that time, Tommaso was so much surprised by the versatility, technicality, and integration of remote sensing into forestry that later it would have accompanied him during his PhD at UBC. Since 2022, Tommaso has joined the IRSS as a PhD student where he is discovering how lidar can detect and map fine temporal changes in the forest structure to make it resilient to small-scale disturbances, such as small fires and insect attacks.
When he is not in the lab, you can find him biking, climbing, enjoying the beach, or having a good Italian meal with his friends.
Elaine Ye
Elaine grew up in Guangzhou, China before coming to Canada at age 17. She finished her bachelor’s degree in Computational Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. After graduation, Elaine went to SkyWatch, a startup that sells satellite imagery and helped them develop a cloud detection algorithm. She then moved to AWS to work on distributed data streaming system. After two years in the industry, Elaine wanted a change and joined the IRSS lab as a master’s student to research forest stand segmentation.
Outside work, she likes to play board games, read non-fiction and travel with her husband.
Brianne Boufford
Brianne, originally from Surrey, British Columbia, graduated from UBC in 2022 with a BSc in Physics. Brianne experimented with a few different areas of data science before learning about remote sensing by joining the IRSS as a work learn student. After graduating, she spent a year working as a remote sensing analyst before returning to do her MSc. Brianne’s project looks to use remote sensing data and statistical methods to improve the representation of vegetation dynamics during hydrological recovery within Raven, a process-based hydrological model.
Outside of work, Brianne loves to run, hike, camp, and ski. When it’s too wet to do any of those, you can likely find Brianne poking around a local thrift store or finding somewhere to get a coffee.