Researchers and Visitors

VISITING SCHOLARS

 

VISITING GRADUATE RESEARCHERS

Marte Vroom

Email: m.m.vroom@uu.nl

Fulbright Graduate Student Grantee 2022-2023

M.Sc. Res. 2023, Urban and Economic Geography, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; B.Sc. (Hons) 2021, Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Field of research: As a Fulbright Graduate Student Grantee from the Netherlands I work with prof. David Rigby. I am currently working towards obtaining a research master’s degree in Urban and Economic Geography at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). The study of (evolutionary) economic geography, industrial regions, and green technologies are among my primary interests. Furthermore, my research interests extend to quantitative methods, from linear regression modeling to exploratory factor analysis. As a UCLA Visiting Graduate Researcher, I have the opportunity to work with prof. David Rigby on environment-related patents and green technology innovation for my research master’s thesis.

 

POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS AND RESEARCHERS

Postdoctoral Scholars

 

Kyle Emery

E-mail: kyleemery@ucla.edu
Website: www.Kyle-Emery.com

Ph.D. 2021, Marine Science, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); M.Sc. 2015, Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia (UVa); B.Sc. 2012, Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia (UVa)

Field of research: I am an NSF-OCE Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with Professor Kyle Cavanaugh. My research aims to better understand the structure and functioning of coastal ecosystems. I will use remote sensing (UAVs), field surveys, and manipulative experiments to increase our understanding of the role of connectivity between coastal ecosystems. My research is primarily conducted in kelp forest and sandy beach ecosystems.

 

Henry Houskeeper

E-mail: hhouskee@g.ucla.edu 
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/henryhouskeeper

Ph.D. 2020, Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC); B.Sc 2012, Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)

Field of Research: I am a NASA Floating Forests Postdoctoral Scholar working with Professor Kyle Cavanaugh. I study drivers of ecological change in coastal ecosystems, with a focus on kelp forest ecosystems. I incorporate technology development into my research in order to improve capabilities for monitoring coastal ecosystems, including advancing methods for automating satellite image processing and analysis, generating simpler radiometric approaches for sensing applications to drones or floats, and developing geostationary satellite oceanography capabilities for resolving sub-daily processes in coastal ocean waters.

Dongyue Li
Ph.D. 2016, M.Sc. 2011, Earth Sciences, Ohio State University; B.Sc. 2009, Civil Engineering, Information Engineering University, China
Field of research: I work with Prof. Dennis Lettenmaier and also closely work with Prof. Steven Margulis (CEE, UCLA) and Dr. Kostas Andreadis (JPL) on two hydrologic areas: (1) current space-borne hydrologic observations are discontinuous in both space and time due to satellite orbital characteristics. At UCLA, we seek to fill this spatiotemporal gap (specifically for the future SWOT satellite mission) with the combined application of hydrologic modeling and available satellite observations in data assimilation frameworks. (2) With the model and data assimilation systems developed from graduate research, I continue to work on quantifying snow as a water resource, and on characterizing the potential changes of the snow water resource availability over the western U.S. in the context of climate change.

 

Hara Nayak

E-mail: hpnayak@g.ucla.edu

Ph.D. is from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India.
Field of research: Climate modeling; Atmosphere-Land Interaction; Extreme Events (Drought, Heat waves…); Climate variability and Change.

 

Bo Zhou

E-mail: bodacious@ucla.edu
Ph.D. 2013, Forestry, University of Missouri Columbia; M.A. 2007, Geography, University of Missouri Columbia

Field of research: I am currently working on a NASA funded project that involves the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to develop a web-based tool that fuses existing Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) data with NASA Earth-observing satellite data to produce spatial and temporal extrapolations of AIM variables.