Dr. Kolden
Crystal Kolden grew up in western Washington climbing trees and loving the outdoors. After getting a fairly useless bachelor's degree in history, she ended up on a Forest Service firefighting crew in California and decided that her calling was figuring out how to burn stuff legally. Over the years she has worked in most of the western US, including Alaska and Hawaii, and now gets to burn stuff AND look at satellite images of burnt stuff. When not playing with fire, she enjoys permaculture gardening in her backyard and kayaking and hiking with her dog and husband and twin boys.
Post-doctoral Fellow
Dr. Arjan Meddens
Originally from the Netherlands, Arjan earned his BS (Forest and Nature Conservation) and MS (GIS and Remote Sensing) degrees from Wageningin University, and his doctorate in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho in 2012. His main research focus is on forest ecology, remote sensing, carbon cycling, and forest disturbance, using satellite and other geospatial data for assessing global change. He enjoys spending time with his wife and toddler son. Click here to visit Arjan's website.
Originally from the Netherlands, Arjan earned his BS (Forest and Nature Conservation) and MS (GIS and Remote Sensing) degrees from Wageningin University, and his doctorate in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho in 2012. His main research focus is on forest ecology, remote sensing, carbon cycling, and forest disturbance, using satellite and other geospatial data for assessing global change. He enjoys spending time with his wife and toddler son. Click here to visit Arjan's website.
Graduate Students
Vincent Jansen
Vincent S. Jansen is a northwest native, having grown up in Spokane (also his middle name) and taken his bachelor's degree in Geography at Western Washington University. After completing a stint in AmeriCorps and working for the Nature Conservancy at northeastern Oregon's Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, Vincent completed an MS in Environmental Science at UI on remote sensing of grazing impacts on the bunchgrass prairie. He is now continuing to develop that research while working towards a doctorate in Geography. He is funded by an award from the TNC Priscilla Bullitt Collins Trust.
John Kannady
John Kannady received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Anthropology and Art History from the University of Tennessee and has worked in cultural resource management ever since. He completed the UI GIS certificate in 2009, and is working towards an MS in Geography. His thesis research utilizes anthropological data from the Central African Republic to map land cover from Landsat data in a novel mixed methods study.
John and his partner have two little girls that keep them busy, and recently spent a month in eastern Africa for her doctoral research. John works for an archeological firm in Seattle, WA.
John and his partner have two little girls that keep them busy, and recently spent a month in eastern Africa for her doctoral research. John works for an archeological firm in Seattle, WA.
T. Ryan McCarley
Growing up in Colorado, Ryan developed an interest in wildfire due to its significance in the region. This, combined with an solid background in geospatial sciences (GIS certificate from Front Range Community College, a BS in Land Use from Metropolitan State University of Denver and a couple years as a Land Surveyor), led him to the University of Idaho. As a second-year MS student he is immersed in his thesis; a project aimed at relating post-fire spectral response and LiDAR-derived metrics of change for a burned and beetle-killed forest in Central Oregon. When not working on his thesis (yes, it happens) Ryan is exploring the Northwest.
Aaron Sparks
Aaron grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and before coming to Idaho, earned a BS in Natural Resource Management w/a GIS certificate from the University of Montana in 2010. During his time at UM Aaron worked at the Mystic Ranger District in the Black Hills on a Forest Service engine crew and at the USFS Fire Sciences Lab in Missoula. Aaron completed a MS in Natural Resources in 2014 at UI, which focused on burned area and seasonality of trace gas emission factors from wildland fires in shrub-steppe ecosystems. His current research is focused on improving wildland fire severity quantification through examining relationships between remotely sensed observations of fire intensity and vegetation vigor. In his spare time, Aaron enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and brewing grad student fuel (beer).
Devin Yeatman
Hailing from Annapolis, Maryland, Devin spent his childhood crabbing and sailing the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. As an undergraduate geographer at Penn State, he began to foster a love for the mountains while tramping around the ridge & valley province of central Pennsylvania. After a two-year stint in the corporate world after college, Devin’s love for the mountains led him west, into wildland firefighting. Since 2009, he has spent his summers working on hotshot crews, while winters were spent doing prescribed burning for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina’s longleaf pine habitat. He is broadly interested in exploring fire’s role in the natural world and its interplay with society, particularly in light of global environmental change. A rapacious adventurer, Devin spends his free time exploring Planet Earth through motorcycle roadtrips, extended travel abroad, and somewhat masochistic backpacking excursions.
Hailing from Annapolis, Maryland, Devin spent his childhood crabbing and sailing the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. As an undergraduate geographer at Penn State, he began to foster a love for the mountains while tramping around the ridge & valley province of central Pennsylvania. After a two-year stint in the corporate world after college, Devin’s love for the mountains led him west, into wildland firefighting. Since 2009, he has spent his summers working on hotshot crews, while winters were spent doing prescribed burning for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina’s longleaf pine habitat. He is broadly interested in exploring fire’s role in the natural world and its interplay with society, particularly in light of global environmental change. A rapacious adventurer, Devin spends his free time exploring Planet Earth through motorcycle roadtrips, extended travel abroad, and somewhat masochistic backpacking excursions.
Alumni
Robert Hougham (postdoc, 2011-2013): Assistant Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin-Extension
Forrest Bowlick (MS, 2012): Assistant Professor, UMass Department of Geography
Vincent Jansen (MS, 2014): Still here, pursuing a PhD (see above).
Katie Morrison (MS, 2014): Forest Policy analyst at Oregon Department of Forestry.
Patrick Olsen (MS, 2014): Instructor of Geography at UI.
Ty Bleeker (MS, 2015): Wilderness Education Instructor
Forrest Bowlick (MS, 2012): Assistant Professor, UMass Department of Geography
Vincent Jansen (MS, 2014): Still here, pursuing a PhD (see above).
Katie Morrison (MS, 2014): Forest Policy analyst at Oregon Department of Forestry.
Patrick Olsen (MS, 2014): Instructor of Geography at UI.
Ty Bleeker (MS, 2015): Wilderness Education Instructor