Graduate Students
Graduate students funded by assistantships through the Center for Geospatial Analytics enjoy office space in the center and contribute invaluably to its cutting-edge research programs.
Current Students
Jenna Abrahamson
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Developing methods to map inundation changes in forested, coastal wetland ecosystems and assessing the impact of inundation events on biogeochemical processes related to methane emissions
- jnabraha@ncsu.edu
Luke Allen
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Sandra Yuter
- Research: Better understanding the cloud microphysical and kinematic conditions associated with local enhancements in precipitation, specifically in snowstorms
- lrallen3@ncsu.edu
Randi Butler
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Natalie Nelson
- Research: Analyzing satellite remote sensing data to better understand sweet potato production trends and bring in a rich perspective of on-the-ground challenges
- rbutler4@ncsu.edu
Emma Butzler
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Georgina Sanchez and Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: The intersection between society and environmental issues
- ebutzle@ncsu.edu
Grace Choi
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Phenology in drylands and the impact of precipitation variability on phenological patterns
- echoi4@ncsu.edu
Rebecca Composto
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Mirela Tulbure
- Research: Using satellite imagery and crowdsourced information to study urban flooding
- rcompos@ncsu.edu
Raja Das
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Karl Wegmann
- Research: Understanding and modeling geo-hazards integrating statistics, machine-learning and remote sensing techniques
- rdas3@ncsu.edu
Christopher Dunstan
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Aaron Hipp and Laura Tateosian
- Research: A wide variety of fields, including sports science and AI ethics
- cdunsta@ncsu.edu
Eamon Espey
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Jelena Vukomanovic
- Research: Understanding socio-ecological systems and modeling multiple facets of their vulnerability under various future climatic and management scenarios
- eespey@ncsu.edu
Mark Feinberg
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Studying invasive plant pests and pathogen species, with an entrepreneurship focus
- mfeinbe@ncsu.edu
Mollie Gaines
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Mirela Tulbure
- Research: Examining surface water connectivity and how it may change with forecasted changes in climate and land use
- mdgaines@ncsu.edu
Xiaojie Gao
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Studying the environmental impacts of global warming, with aims to understand human-nature interactions and global climate change
- xgao26@ncsu.edu
Louis Goodall
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Robert Scheller
- Research: Disturbance ecology and forest management, and intersections between them
- lagoodal@ncsu.edu
Nick Grokhowsky
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Helena Mitasova
- Research: Uncovering subtle trends in research and development productivity, innovation and competitiveness to aid decision makers identify research beneficiaries by research location, publication location and topic
- ngrokho@ncsu.edu
Isabel Gutierrez
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Aaron Hipp
- Research: Evaluating the sustainability of golf courses and greenspaces
- igutier2@ncsu.edu
Caitlin Haedrich
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Helena Mitasova
- Research: Developing geospatial tools using GRASS GIS, Tangible Landscape and Jupyter Notebooks to help stakeholders engage with scientific models and support participatory modeling
- chaedri@ncsu.edu
Truffaut Harper
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Sea level rise, flooding and the effects of climate change
- tsharpe2@ncsu.edu
Izzi Hinks
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Developing and assessing remote sensing algorithms to optimize the productivity of sustainable agriculture amidst environmental change
- irhinks@ncsu.edu
Eli Horner
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Using computational mathematics and computational statistics techniques and methods to improve spatial-temporal models, expanding tools within these models to improve their usefulness for stakeholders and accurately capture real-world behavior
- eahorner@ncsu.edu
Jamie Huerta
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Chris Osburn
- Research: Estuarine biogeochemical processes and how they relate to climate change, anthropocentric pollution and spatiotemporal trends
- jhuerta@ncsu.edu
Kate Jones
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Jelena Vukomanovic
- Research: Integrating geospatial technologies with ecological modeling to understand forest disturbance and climate adaptation
- kejones8@ncsu.edu
Kimia Karimi
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Dan Obenour
- Research: Modeling watersheds and water quality to assess eutrophication trends under historical and projected scenarios
- kkarimi2@ncsu.edu
Gwen Kirschke
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Elsa Youngsteadt
- Research: Predicting the distribution of nectar resources across habitat matrices
- gkirsch@ncsu.edu
Brit Laginhas
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Harnessing big geospatial data and advanced modeling for deeper insights and effective solutions to major environmental problems, like the spread of invasive pests and pathogens
- blaginh@ncsu.edu
Margaret Lawrimore
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Assessing the social and environmental impacts of land use change and planning
- malawrim@ncsu.edu
Martine Mathieu
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Jennifer Richmond-Bryant
- Research: Spatial statistics, spatial and temporal modeling approaches, sociotechnical systems, and applying these tools to assess air pollution exposure, extreme weather events and health effects estimation
- mmathie@ncsu.edu
Shannon McAvoy
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Katie Martin
- Research: Forest landscape changes and how climate change may affect forest ecosystem service provisions to adjacent communities.
- smcavoy@ncsu.edu
Ian McGregor
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Using remote sensing to improve near real-time deforestation monitoring in the sub-tropics
- imcgreg@ncsu.edu
Erin O’Connell
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Chris Jones and Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Modeling high-risk areas for biological invasions and training machine-learning algorithms to look for host vegetation species
- eoconne@ncsu.edu
Uchenna Osia
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Bethany Cutts
- Research: Working to ensure people are seen as experts in the data they produce rather than digital products, how to put data equity into practice within the context of environmental justice and spatial data
- unosia@ncsu.edu
Annie Paulukonis
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Tom Purucker (US EPA) and Helena Mitasova
- Research: Developing tools and analyses used in pesticide risk assessments for threatened wildlife species, particularly pollinators and amphibians
- epauluk@ncsu.edu
Christina Perella
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Adam Terando and Jelena Vukomanovic
- Research: Social and ecological impacts of climate and land-use change, with a focus on understanding tradeoffs between community needs and ecosystem health, and the effectiveness of protected areas and wildlife corridors
- cdperell@ncsu.edu
Deja Perkins
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Caren Cooper
- Research: Identifying spatial patterns in citizen science participation to engage underserved communities in environmental monitoring
- djperkin@ncsu.edu
John Polo
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Co-advisors: Chris Jones and Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: The spread of invasive species, conservation of native species and how movements, both local and long-distance, can contribute to species conservation
- japolo@ncsu.edu
Stacie Reckling
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Helena Mitasova
- Research: Geospatial trends and patterns relevant to public health and environmental health
- skreckli@ncsu.edu
Pratikshya Regmi
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Helena Mitasova
- Research: Studying impacts of dynamic soil properties on landscape processes using mapping from UAS and geospatial simulations; contributing to the Growing the GRASS GIS Open Source Ecosystem project by extending its educational materials and tutorials with data and applications from her home country of Nepal
- pregmi3@ncsu.edu
Shannon Ricci
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Del Bohnenstiehl
- Research: Integrating existing datasets (imagery, acoustics, habitat information, etc.) and developing efficient workflows to improve monitoring and management capabilities for environmentally sensitive marine areas
- swbrown@ncsu.edu
Ariel Saffer
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Understanding and forecasting the global spread of plant pests and pathogens
- asaffer@ncsu.edu
Felipe Sanchez
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Gustavo Machado
- Research: The intersection between animal, environmental and human health, specifically development of surveillance and monitoring tools and applications.
- fesanche@ncsu.edu
Andrew Shannon
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Robert Scheller
- Research: Leveraging modeling and other statistical approaches to interpret ecological and Earth systems data and produce work that informs future-oriented management actions for forest and other natural resources, the impacts of drought and other long-term climate trends on the functions of terrestrial systems and natural lands
- ashanno@ncsu.edu
Owen Smith
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Josh Gray
- Research: Researching methods of controllable spatiotemporal degradation, coupled with allowable uncertainty, to synthesize an archive of heterogeneous satellite imagery into an application-specific, lower-dimensional representation
- osmith2@ncsu.edu
Titilayo Tajudeen
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Katie Martin
- Research: Examining dynamics in forest hydrologic systems and the impacts of climate on these changes to enhance environmental sustainability
- tttajude@ncsu.edu
Varun Tiwari
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Mirela Tulbure
- Research: Quantifying methane emissions for paddy rice fields using machine learning methods
- vtiwari@ncsu.edu
Laura Tomkins
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Sandra Yuter
- Research: Using remote sensing and in-situ observations to understand the structure of winter storms in the Northeast, radar remote sensing, precipitation processes, software development and data visualization
- lmtomkin@ncsu.edu
Thom Worm
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Ross Meentemeyer
- Research: Examining human-driven changes in landscapes and forecasting ecological change in a growing world
- tworm@ncsu.edu
Alexander Yoshizumi
Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student
- Advisor: Jelena Vukomanovic
- Research: The intersection of energy, transportation and land use, systems modeling and resiliency planning
- ayoshiz@ncsu.edu
