University of Georgia

I am pursuing a PhD in Integrative Conservation and Geography at the University of Georgia. "At the beginning of the 21st century, as global environmental change proceeds at an unprecedented pace, the practice of conservation is adapting to a complex set of new challenges. The conservation community has increasingly recognized that responding effectively to these challenges will require that the next generation of practitioners and scholars not only develop expertise in specific fields but also have the conceptual tools to work across disciplines. The University of Georgia’s Integrative Conservation (ICON) Ph.D. program is designed to meet that need by ensuring you gain disciplinary depth and learn to collaborate across disciplines and fields of practice to seek integrative solutions to complex conservation challenges."

My research takes place in the Bellbird Biological Corridor or, as it is known in Spanish, the Corredor Biológico Pájaro Campana (CBPC), which is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The BBC is located on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica and represents a link between the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the mangrove forest of the gulf of Nicoya. In March of 2011 the CBPC Initiative published a 5-year strategic plan and identified the need to develop a baseline study of forest distribution and connectivity within the CBPC in order to identify and prioritize reforestation, restoration, and conservation projects. In order to aid the CBPC Initiative, my research had the following objectives: 1) track forest change across the CBPC between 1974 and 2014 using NASA’s Landsat Imagery; 2) run a corridor model to identify potential priority areas for future conservation efforts that would help link forested areas by using Linkage Mapper; and 3) evaluate the spatial targeting of Payment for Ecosystem Services Contracts awarded within the corridor between 2008 and 2012. Since the overall goal of this study is to create a foundation for future conservation management, a key deliverable to the CBPC Initiative and other local stakeholders is the methodology developed along with the data generated in this study in order to allow them to build upon this work. 

I am very fortunate to have Dr. Marguerite Madden as my major (rock star) advisor. Marguerite is Director of the Center for Geospatial Research (CGR) at UGA, which is committed to promoting geographic thinking and the application of geospatial technology in interdisciplinary research, education, and public service.