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 the country life with her husband and twin boys on their rural farmstead.
Current PyroLab Members
Jeff Stenzel, Ph.D. (post-doc, UC Merced)
Jeff received his doctorate in Natural Resources in the ITEAM Lab at the University of Idaho in 2021. His research focuses on improving Earth system models (particularly CLM) and applying them to understand the effects of forest management on western ecosystems and carbon stocks.
Nicole Lambrou, Ph.D. (post-doc, UC Merced)
Nicole received her doctorate in Urban Planning from UCLA in August 2022 and is the founder of Tinkercraft, an urban design and climate research studio focused on designing equity and justice-based solutions. She is the research lead and Project Manager for FireTools, a collaborative project between UC Merced, Berkeley, and UCLA (funded by UCOP MRPI and HUD) to improve our understanding of wildfire resilience by planning and developing support resources for the marginalized communities most vulnerable to wildfire.
Varya Federova (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Tara Harmon (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Mykael Pineda (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Joshua Picotte (doctoral student, University of Idaho)
Joshua works full-time for the US Geological Survey, EROS. He works on a multitude of projects, including MTBS, LANDFIRE, and developing new products from ever-advancing earth observing technologies.
Jeff received his doctorate in Natural Resources in the ITEAM Lab at the University of Idaho in 2021. His research focuses on improving Earth system models (particularly CLM) and applying them to understand the effects of forest management on western ecosystems and carbon stocks.
Nicole Lambrou, Ph.D. (post-doc, UC Merced)
Nicole received her doctorate in Urban Planning from UCLA in August 2022 and is the founder of Tinkercraft, an urban design and climate research studio focused on designing equity and justice-based solutions. She is the research lead and Project Manager for FireTools, a collaborative project between UC Merced, Berkeley, and UCLA (funded by UCOP MRPI and HUD) to improve our understanding of wildfire resilience by planning and developing support resources for the marginalized communities most vulnerable to wildfire.
Varya Federova (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Tara Harmon (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Mykael Pineda (doctoral student in Environmental Systems, UC Merced)
Coming Soon!
Joshua Picotte (doctoral student, University of Idaho)
Joshua works full-time for the US Geological Survey, EROS. He works on a multitude of projects, including MTBS, LANDFIRE, and developing new products from ever-advancing earth observing technologies.
Alumni- University of Idaho
Dr. Arjan Meddens (post-doc, 2014-2016) - now Assistant Professor at Washington State University
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. 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. Click here to visit Arjan's website.
Vincent S. Jansen (MS and PhD 2011-2018) completed an MS in Environmental Science and PhD in Natural Resources with the PyroLab at Univ. of Idaho on remote sensing of grazing impacts on the bunchgrass prairie. He is currently a post-doctoral research at University of Idaho.
Robert Hougham (postdoc, 2011-2013): Assistant Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin-Extension
Forrest Bowlick (MS Geography, 2012): Assistant Professor, UMass Department of Geography
Vincent Jansen (MS Environmental Science, 2014): Still here, pursuing a PhD (see above).
Katie Morrison (MS Geography, 2014): Forest Policy analyst at Oregon Department of Forestry.
Patrick Olsen (MS Geography, 2014): Instructor of Geography at UI
Ty Bleeker (MS Geography, 2015): Wilderness Education Instructor
T. Ryan McCarley (MS Geography, 2016): Spatial Analyst, Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC), Salt Lake City, Utah
John Kannady (MS Geography, 2016): GIS specialist for an archaeology firm, Atlanta, GA
Devin Yeatman (MS Natural Resources, 2017): Land Steward, The Nature Conservancy South Carolina
Aaron Sparks (PhD Natural Resources, 2017): Post-doc at University of Idaho
Carrie Minerich (MS Natural Resources, 2018): Analyst at Geospatial and Technology Applications Center, USFS
Forrest Bowlick (MS Geography, 2012): Assistant Professor, UMass Department of Geography
Vincent Jansen (MS Environmental Science, 2014): Still here, pursuing a PhD (see above).
Katie Morrison (MS Geography, 2014): Forest Policy analyst at Oregon Department of Forestry.
Patrick Olsen (MS Geography, 2014): Instructor of Geography at UI
Ty Bleeker (MS Geography, 2015): Wilderness Education Instructor
T. Ryan McCarley (MS Geography, 2016): Spatial Analyst, Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC), Salt Lake City, Utah
John Kannady (MS Geography, 2016): GIS specialist for an archaeology firm, Atlanta, GA
Devin Yeatman (MS Natural Resources, 2017): Land Steward, The Nature Conservancy South Carolina
Aaron Sparks (PhD Natural Resources, 2017): Post-doc at University of Idaho
Carrie Minerich (MS Natural Resources, 2018): Analyst at Geospatial and Technology Applications Center, USFS