People

Rodney Chimner
"We are what we imagine ourselves to be."
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
  • Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Peatland and wetland restoration
  • Peatland and wetland carbon cycling
  • Mountain wetlands
  • Tropical peatlands
  • Ecosystem carbon cycling
  • Wetland ecohydrology

Tara L. Bal

  • Assistant Professor, Forest Health
  • Master of Forestry Degree Program Director
  • Wood Protection Group, Microbiology/Pathology Lab Leader

Teaching Interests

  • Forest Health
  • Forest Entomology
  • Forest Pathology
  • Wild Foods, Maple Syrup & Culture
  • Professionalism

Areas of Expertise

  • Forest Health Management and Monitoring
  • Forest Education, Diversity and Inclusion in Forestry and Natural Resources
  • Invasion Ecology
  • Wood Decay Testing and Pathology
  • Insect, Fungi, and Environmental Education, Pedagogy
  • Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interest

Teaching Interests

  • Water and wastewater treatment
  • Biological treatment processes

Research Interests

  • Bioremediation of Contaminated Groundwater Environments
  • Microbial Ecology and Kinetics of Chlorinated Aliphatic Solvent Biodegradation
  • Conversion of Organic Solid Wastes and Cellulosic Feedstocks to Electricity via Microbial Fuel Cells
  • Senior Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES)

Areas of Expertise

  • Remote Sensing
    • Radar
    • Lidar
    • Multispectral
  • Forest and Wetland Ecology of
    • Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands
    • Boreal, Temperate, and Tropical Regions
  • Wildfire
    • Boreal Fuel Moisture and Fire Danger
    • Boreal Wildfire Effects and Carbon Emissions

Research Interests

  • Characterize and Measure Landscape Ecosystems
  • Fusion of SAR and Multispectral Data For Mapping and Monitoring Wetlands and Monitoring Soil Moisture For Fire Danger Prediction in Boreal Regions
  • Senior Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Adjunct Lecturer, Biological Sciences

Areas of Expertise

  • Transportation Applications Including Road and Bridge Condition Assessment
  • Mapping of Changing Ecosystems
  • Agricultural Remote Sensing
  • Geohazard Evaluation
  • Invasive Species Mapping With a Focus on Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
  • Developing Unmanned Aerial System Capabilities
  • 3D Optical, Multispectral, Thermal, and LiDAR Sensing
  • Decision Support System and App Development
  • Integration of Remote Sensing Technologies Into Sponsor Workflows
  • Research Project Management

Research Interests

  • Aquatic and Landscape Ecology
  • Invasive Species Mapping
  • Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Monitoring
  • Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Assessment of Transportation Infrastructure Condition Using Remote Sensing
  • Automated Road and Bridge Condition Analysis
  • Multispectral Sensing
  • Development and Deployment of Decision Support Systems
  • Land Cover Change Mapping and Monitoring

Stacy R Cotey

  • Assistant Teaching Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Mesocarnivore ecology
  • Landscape ecology
  • Wildlife-habitat relationships
  • Conservation planning
  • Science communication
  • Citizen science
  • Dean and Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Director of Undergraduate Programs

Areas of Expertise

  • Conservation biology
  • Avian ecology and reproduction
  • Cascading effects of deer overbrowse
  • Island ecology
  • Senior Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI)
  • Adjunct Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science (SFRES)

Areas of Expertise

  • Remote Sensing
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
  • Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

Research Interests

  • Characterize Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Wildland Fuels, Fire, and Carbon Emissions From Fire
  • Remote Sensing of Wildland Fire and its Effects
  • Fire Emissions and Health
  • Soil Moisture and Wetland Sensing With Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
  • Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Affiliated Assistant Professor, Humanities

Research Interests

  • University-Community Partnerships, research engagement, and equitable practice and design
  • Environmental Justice and Policy, toxic substances, risk management, and promoting holistic health
  • Indigenous / Native American Studies, treaties and the government-to-government relationship, food sovereignty, and Indigenous wisdom in the Great Lakes region
  • Environmental Stewardship and the Seven Generations Philosophy
  • Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Current Research Interests

  • Plant Evolutionary Ecology
  • Ecological and Community Genetics
  • Genome Size and Polyploidy Evolution
  • Invasive Species Biology and Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems
Sarah Hoy

Sarah Hoy

  • Research Assistant Professor

Specialties

  • Predator-prey interactions
  • Animal ecology and conservation
  • Population biology
  • Life-history trade-offs
  • Department Chair, Biological Sciences
  • Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Expertise

  • Ecology of lakes, streams, and their riparian interface with terrestrial systems
  • Fish ecology, biology, functional morphology
  • effects of land use on ecological systems
  • Biomonitoring for research and restoration
  • Effects of Invasive Species
  • Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Soil carbon
  • Plant/soil relationships
  • Decomposition
  • Dissolved organic carbon
  • Wildfire
  • Black carbon
  • Distinguished Professor of Environmental History, Social Sciences
  • Affiliate Professor, CFRES

Areas of Interest

  • Toxics, forested watersheds, and northern lakes
  • Environmental history
  • Watershed change and water quality
  • Mining history
Fengjing Liu
"Water is the new oil: a resource long squandered and soon to be overwhelmed by insatiable demand."
—The Economist
  • Associate Professor

Areas of Expertise

  • Ecohydrology and forest hydrology
  • Hydrological and biogeochemical processes in snowmelt-dominated watersheds
  • Black ash wetland ecosystem processes 
  • Assistant Professor in Remote Sensing and GIS

Areas of Expertise

  • Remote sensing
  • Change detection
  • Natural disaster mapping
  • Invasive species mapping
  • Landcover mapping
  • Vegetation property extraction with remote sensing techniques 
  • Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Director, Ecosystem Science Center
  • Director, Aquatic Analysis (AQUA) Shared Facility

Research Interests

  • Limnology
  • Ecosystem Ecology of Streams and Rivers
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

Research Interests

  • Community Ecology
  • Trophic Interactions
  • Marine Ecology
  • Ecogeochemical Tracer Techniques
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Teaching Interests

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Transport & Transformation of Organic Chemicals
  • Boundary Layer Meteorology
  • Sustainability

Research Interests

  • Air and Water Quality
  • Atmosphere-biosphere Exchange of Chemicals
  • Micrometeorology
  • Environmental Analytical Chemistry
  • Sustainability
Sigrid Resh
"Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate."
—J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Sigrid Resh

  • Research Assistant Professor
  • Coordinator, Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA)

Areas of Expertise

  • Invasive species research, treatments, and education/outreach
  • Forest restoration
  • Soil sustainability
  • Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences
  • Affiliated Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
  • Director of Research, Center for Innovation in Sustainability & Resilience

Research Interests

  • Socio-technological systam transitions
  • Technology adoption
  • Energy policy
  • Energy practices
  • Sustainable communities
  • Self-provisioning
  • Environmental education
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Affiliated Professor, Biological Sciences

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Environmental biotechnology, including in situ bioremediation of contaminated subsurface environments, monitoring and evaluation of the performance of biological treatment processes, development of in situ biological treatment systems for urban storm water runoff, innovative reuse of waste materials, and in situ improvement of soils properties via microbially-mediated processes.
  • Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Environmental cycles of major and trace elements
  • Sediment diagenesis and stratigraphy
  • Chemistry of natural organic matter
  • Wetland biogeochemistry
  • Environmental impact and fate of pollutants
  • Influence of organisms on the chemical environment
  • Role of chemical environment in controlling populations
  • Assistant Professor

Fields of Expertise

  • Wildlife conservation in working landscapes
  • Temperate and tropical avian ecology
  • Demographic modeling
  • Avian molts and plumage
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