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School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences

School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences

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Graduate Students - Geomatics

Photo Name Degree Seeking Advisor Bio
  Jade Austin  MS  Vincent Lecours

While pursuing my degree in Environmental Geography at the University of Hawaii, I also had the opportunity to work with the Coral Reef and Ecosystem Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). At NOAA I worked on analyzing spatial data and creating both benthic habitat and coral classification maps that were used in restoration efforts in the Hawaiian Islands.

After graduating I made the move to Washington State, where I currently work as a surveyor at an environmental consulting firm. I work on a variety of different projects, ranging anywhere from topographic maps, boundary work and AutoCAD drafting, all the way to UAV data analysis. I’m excited to join the Lecours Lab as a distance student and pursue my master’s degree in Geomatics while having the opportunity to weave in both ecological and environmental based topics.

  Fisal Basheesh  Ph.D.  Henry Hochmair I am a Ph.D student in Geomatics and my research focuses on social network Application and Volunteered geographic information (VGI) tools. The point is to analysis users pattern in different scenario and events. I have a master in Geographic Information Science from Redlands University, California. I am did Developed A Recreational Tour Map for Sonoma North Coast Protected Lands Complex (SNCPLC) as MS GIS program major individual project.
  Connor Bass  MS  Ben Wilkinson I am a Geomatics MS Major focusing on Geospatial Analysis. My research has been particularly in planning, collecting, and processing 3D elevation data from LIDAR and photogrammetry aboard Unmanned Aerial Systems and developing Machine Learning workflows to classify said data. I have been working with the Geospatial Mapping and Applications Lab on the NGS Geospatial Modelling Project as well as with the UF UAS Research Program to collect data for interdepartmental research.
  Todd Bates  MS Henry Hochmair  
  Ryan Brazeal  Ph.D.  Ben Wilkinson My research focuses on lidar and imagery based mobile mapping systems, and the geospatial sensors and algorithms that make them work. I advocate for open-source hardware and software and believe all knowledge should be shared and freely available to everyone. The centerpiece of my dissertation work is the Open Mobile Mapping System project (www.openmms.org). My undergraduate studies were in geomatics engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada. I am a dad to three incredible girls and married to the world’s most amazing woman.
  Eli Brossell  MS  Henry Hochmair

My current job title is Civil Designer at a large multinational engineering firm. I live and work in South Florida. Currently I am doing roadway design and in the near term I would like to transition to using more of my previous career experience doing hydrologic and hydraulics simulation modeling, analysis and design. I am experienced in 3d modeling of proposed earthwork and, now, roadways. I am motivated to learn more about Geomatics and combine it with my professional experience in engineering.

In particular I have been very interested in using UAS to collect topographic data and aerial imagery. I actively participated in my wife’s company while we were living in Salvador, Brazil. The contracts were to document the progress of land development projects on a monthly basis with aerial photographs taken by UAS.

I’m hoping the Geomatics Master’s degree will help take my career in new and unexpected directions. I’m interested in a wide variety of topics such as water supply, water quality, environmental restoration and protection, crop/vegetation health, soil water content, topographic surveying, sea level rise, to name a few.

  Alvin Clarke  Ph.D.  Amr Abd-Elrahman My research investigates the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV)in the creation of cadastral plans for the facilitation of land titles. I am a commissioned land surveyor from the island of Jamaica and a lecturer of Geomatics at the University of Technology, Jamaica.
  Danielle Clooney  MS Eben Broadbent  
  Zella Conyers  Ph.D.  Henry Hochmair I am a current PhD student. I have an MA in Geography from the University of Miami. My focus and interests are in sea level rise and it’s affect on human-environment interactions as well as invasive species distribution.
  Christopher Debeaux  MS  Amr Abd-Elrahman I am enrolled in the Geomatics program. The focus of my studies are Geospatial Analysis and GIS with applications in forest ecology and agriculture. I have worked as a biological aid in Fish and Wildlife Management and am currently working on a sustainable agriculture project utilizing hydroponics and aquaponics to grow food for the surrounding community and anyone who is hungry. I have a mixed media art studio with my wife and enjoy playing bass guitar.
 
Photo Name Degree Seeking Advisor Bio
  Sean Denney  Ph.D. Grenville Barnes  
  Sanduni S.J. Disanayaka Mudiyanselage  Ph.D.  Amr Abd-Elrahman and Ben Wilkinson I am a Ph.D student in Geomatics and my research focuses on image processing and machine learning techniques to analyse coastal habitat and morphology incorporating high spatial/spectral resolution imagery and lidar datasets. I have a masters in Coastal Engineering from TU Delft, The Netherlands. The field of geo-spatial analysis fascinates me as it provides a robust tool to study coastal morphology and ecological habitats which will facilitate sustainable solutions to many coastal zone issues.
  Ali Gonzalez Perez  Ph.D.  Amr Abd-Elrahman I am a PhD student in the Geomatics Department at UF with a BS and MS degrees in Mining. I hold a professional surveyor and mapper license in the State of Florida and a remote pilot license issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (Professional Drone Pilot). I am passionate towards using drones in natural resource management applications. Currently my PhD research focuses on characterizing coastal habitat using drone LiDAR, multispectral and hyperspectral imagery. I am an immigrant from Cuba and what it is called a “country boy” in the United States, a “guajiro”, in Cuba. I live in a countryside neighborhood in Polk County, Florida my passion hobby is working in creating my own sustainable edible yard with semitropical edible plants, fruits, herbs and tubers.
  Robert "Nolan" Hall   MS Amr Abd-Elrahman  
  Nicole Jennings  MS  Henry Hochmair I am pursing a Master’s degree in Geomatics online. In 2017, I graduated with my undergraduate degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. I currently live in south Florida and work at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center as a wildlife biologist. I am primarily involved in American alligator and crocodile monitoring and research programs and hope to use my degree to strengthen and round-out my skills as a biologist. After graduating, my goal is to work with endangered species and use geomatics to better understand, explain, and present pertinent data results.
  Youssef Kaddoura  Ph.D.  Ben Wilkinson

I am a PhD student and Research Scientist in the Geomatics Program at University of Florida and I am advised by Dr. Benjamin Wilkinson and Dr. Eben Broadbent. My doctoral research investigates establishing a reproducible methodology to georeference PhenoCam images towards advancing the precision to the second level taking it from Region of Interest (ROI) level to Pixel level. I take a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of photogrammetry, ecology, lidar, and conventional surveying techniques and theories.

I am involved in the ASPRS Student Advisory Council and recently became Deputy Communication Councilor. I hold a master’s degree in Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE) from the University of Florida, that investigated cost effective indoor positioning systems for smart spaces. Previously, I worked at Geospatial Consultancy Company that is an ESRI partner in Dubai focusing on integrating innovative geospatial applications and empowering senior executives at the governmental entities with easy to use geospatial decision-making tools.

  Carter Kelly  MS Ben Wilkinson  
  Michael Klassen  MS Henry Hochmair  
  Wenhao Liu  MS  Vincent Lecours

I am a Master student and research assistant in Marine Geomatics Lab. During my undergraduate studies, I focused on remote sensing using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), particularly with applications in agriculture. I performed geospatial data collection for several projects related to crop monitoring, and worked in the State Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture where I was the leader of the UAV team.

I have over ten years of experience building and flying drones. While studying exchange year at UF in the Geomatics program, I became interested in the diversity of the marine and coastal environment because of a term project in the UAS Mapping course for which I had to quantify and monitor the shoreline change of Seahorse Key. During my master’s degree, I will be working on improving bathymetric retrieval accuracy using optical data and coastal change monitoring.

  Ammar Mandourah  Ph.D. Henry Hochmair  
 
Photo Name Degree Seeking Advisor Bio
  Angela Matthews  Ph.D.  Henry Hochmair

I am currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Geospatial Analysis at the Florida Research and Education Center in Davie Florida. My current research uses crowd-sourced data from fitness tracker apps to assess characteristics of the built and natural environments that influence cyclists route, choice or app choice and to compare routes used by cyclists with those suggested by routing engines. In addition, these data are being used to assess what characteristics of Florida State Parks and their surrounding areas attract users for various physical activities. I currently have three papers under review in three separate journals.

In addition to my GIS research I have co-authored a mathematics text book and teach mathematics at Broward College in Davie Florida. I hope to finish my dissertation and successfully defend it sometime in 2021.

  Robert Moon  Ph.D.  Ben Wilkinson and Amr Abd-Elrahman I’m a PhD student in the Geomatics program with a particular interest in remote sensing and spectroscopy. My interest in the field began with my work as a Marine intelligence officer working in geospatial intelligence. In the academic environment, I’ve used drone based photography to study the morphology of lava flows and hyperspectral imagery to study the mineral composition of surveyed areas. I’m currently interested in expanding and refining the usefulness of remotely sensed data in solve emerging problems.
  Anthony Orlandi Guzman  MS  Ben Wilkinson I am pursuing my Masters in Geomatics on-line non thesis degree. I have a BS in Geomatics from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and I am also a NCEES Surveyor in Training (SIT). I am interested in improving my skills in the area of Geodesy, Remote Sensing, and Photogrammetry image analysis and processing.
  Andrew Ortega  MS  Ben Wilkinson I work at the UF Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research Program – where we build and fly custom drones for a variety of Natural Resource and Conservation applications. Currently, my main focuses are Everglades restoration and coastal mapping with the goal of developing technology to improve the water quality of Florida.
  Innocensia Owuor  Ph.D.  Henry Hochmair

I am a PhD student who in the last one year has been exploring unorthodox sources of geospatial data such as social media applications, evaluating their quality, and using them to conduct spatio-temporal analysis. My first paper (https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-1-19-2020) tracked how Hurricane Dorian (2019) was captured on GDELT (a news repository for worldwide events) and Twitter. The overarching aim of my research is to explore and present alternative sources of geospatial data by examining their quality. I look forward to developing better geospatial data quality management products.

I’m an amateur art enthusiast and I enjoy spending time communing with nature.

  Gerald Powell  MS Amr Abd-Elrahman  
  Samantha Robinson  MS Henry Hochmair  
  Jerome Small  MS  Henry Hochmair I currently work full time with Palm Beach County Engineering and Public Works in the Traffic Division. I aspire to become a licensed surveyor and learn as much as I can from my Peers and Professors alike. I look forward to a fruitful future with you all. 
  Steven Stuglik  MS  Amr Abd-Elrahman I live in Gainesville, FL and I have a bachelor’s degree from UF in Forestry with a specialization in Watershed Science and Management. I am especially annoyed by invasive species, and hope to gain skills that I can apply to limiting their spread in a future environmental career.
  Zach Tucker  MS  Ben Wilkinson I am pursuing a Master’s in Geomatics part time. I currently live in Gainesville and work as a GIS Technician. I am hoping to improve my skills in GIS analysis while also preparing to become a PSM. I previously worked as a field survey technician and have experience with conventional survey, RTK, LiDAR, and some photogrammetry. I’m excited to expand my knowledge, and I am particularly interesting in learning more about UAS.
Photo Name Degree Seeking Advisor Bio
  Arie Uber  MS  Vincent Lecours I’m currently working at an Engineering Consulting firm called Dewberry Engineers Inc as a Geospatial Analyst. I live in the St. Petersburg area with my girlfriend and 2 fur babies. I’m driven by the unknown. I hope to one day map parts of the ocean floor so that the people of Earth know what’s actually down there.
  Savannah Walters  MS Eben Broadbent  
  Mike Wooten  MS  Henry Hochmair I am a Master’s student in Geomatics full time. My other full time job is being a husband and father to my wonderful wife and three awesome kiddos. I have been a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps and the Navy for the last 13 years and before that got my Undergrad in Mathematics in 2007. I am especially interested in remote sensing and would like to further my knowledge of image processing and analysis, photogrammetry, and GIS.
  Caiwang Zheng  Ph.D.  Amr Abd-Elrahman I am a PHD student in Geomatics program. My research mainly focuses on the strawberry phenotyping traits extraction based on analysis of multiple types of remote sensing images. Through the combination of radiative transfer model and deep learning technology, new algorithms were proposed for the monitoring of strawberry plant growth and yield prediction. I am also very interested in the climate change and environmental problems (e.g. air pollution).