UMBC GES Graduate Students

Graduate Students

	Erica Antill Erica Antill grew up in Pepperell, Massachusetts, and obtained her B.S. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After graduating in 2006 with minors in German and Anthropology, she moved to Missoula, Montana, and worked at Matson's Laboratory processing mammalian teeth. She is now pursuing a Ph.D. in the GES department at UMBC with a focus on environmental systems. She is interested in the interactions of human and biological processes, especially in relation to biodiversity and the potential for sustainable activities.

	Amy Bleich Amy Bleich received a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronomy from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1987. Since that time, she has worked on a number of astronomical and earth observing satellites. She worked on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center, and is currently working on the National Polar Orbiting operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), which is a joint mission between NOAA, NASA, and the Department of Defense. She is also working on the NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project), currently due to launch in 2010. Her academic interests include using satellite data to study atmospheric science and the modeling of climate/environmental systems. She is planning to obtain an MS in the GES program while maintaining her full-time work status at the NOAA Integrated Program Office.

	Jonathan Dandois I received a B.S. in Geography, with a focus in GIS, from UMBC in 2003. After several years working various jobs, I have returned to pursue a Ph.D in Geography & Environmental Systems at UMBC working with Dr Erle Ellis. I am also a Trainee in the IGERT “Water in the Urban Environment” program. I intend to build upon my skills with GIS and remote sensing to improve our understanding of the urban environment. I am interested in how modern remote sensing techniques can be used to model urban problems like: improving development and growth strategies in cities; identifying potential locations for 'green' design; or automated classification of invasive species throughout a city. I am also interested in researching how municipal GIS databases are currently utilized and what other applications might be possible with that data. I have had experience working with mobile GIS and sub-meter accurate GPS technology and hope to incorporate those skills into my research as well. As a student of GIS, I am always excited about generating maps to help communicate different kinds of spatial data and look forward to exercising my cartographic talents during my research. One of my long-term goals is to continue my research career after graduate school, studying urban enviroments around the world; I know that the opportunities available at UMBC will help me achieve that goal.

	Cheryl Knott Cheryl Knott is in the master's program studying under the guidance of Dr. Robert Neff. She received her undergraduate degree in Geography from UMBC in May 2007 and received a certificate in Cartography as well. Cheryl works as the Geographic Information Systems Analyst for The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance at The University of Baltimore. Her research interests include urban social geography and environmental public health. She can be reached at cherylk1@umbc.edu.

	Jennifer Li Born and raised around Maryland’s Chesapeake region, I’ve always been fascinated by environmental systems and how they function. I began my education at Anne Arundel Community College where I earned an Associates of Science degree. It was there that I began aiding professors in their research which helped to further deepen my love for Ecology. After completion of my Associates degree I transferred to Towson University where I studied and earned my Bachelors of Science in Biology concentrating in Organismal Biology and Ecology. Towson University provided me with so many different experiences in not only classes but research that I was able to finally define my core interest: Aquatic Ecosystems. This interest has led me to UMBC where I am now working on earning my Masters degree under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Swan.

	Garth Lindner Broadly put, my research interests focus on patterns of urban development and water resources. My research centers on the interactions and patterns between urban infrastructure and hydrologic, hydraulic, and geomorphic processes in the Baltimore, Maryland region. I am a second year PhD student working closely with Dr. Andrew Miller in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. At present, the bulk of my work goes into 1) investigating methods of building and assessing the properties of rating curves for small urban streams, and 2) exploring the geomorphic structure and resident flow times of urban streams. Building steam for future research towards my degree are two more projects, one exploring the age, type, and spatial configuration of stormwater management practices and the subsequent runoff dynamics in various urbanized watersheds, and the other examining the release of sediment loads from dam removal. I am currently funded as an IGERT trainee, called Water in the Urban Environment, and am affiliated with the Center for Urban and Environmental Research and Education. I am also funded by the NSF CNH grant, Dynamic Coupling of the Water Cycle with Patterns of Urban Growth. I hold an M.S. in Geography from Indiana University, Bloomington, which focused on the implementation of a hydrologic network, and used data from the network to assess the accuracy of hydrologic modeling at various spatial scales. My M.S. advisor was Dr. Kelly Caylor. I also received my B.A. from Indiana in Environmental Studies and Philosophy. For more information, please visit my website.

	Jeanna D. Ragsdale I received a Bacheor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and Painting from Pacific Lutheran University, a B.A. in Geography from Central Washington University and an M.S. in Soil and Water Quality from the University of Florida. I am currently an IGERT Trainee and a Ph.D. student in Geography & Environmental Systems working with Dr. Laura Lewis. My research interests are in urban agriculture, but more specifically, I’m interested in how different land management practices affect soil and water quality and overall ecosystem health. My research will focus on soil quality in urban agriculture / community gardens. Soil quality is integral to the development of a sustainable land management system. Changing land use and land cover greatly influence soil properties. These changes influence the accumulation and storage of organic matter, which affects soil microbial populations and distribution, nutrient cycling, and water quality. Soil organic matter affects surface water infiltration and runoff as well as water holding capacity. I will investigate the soil, vegetation, and water management practices on a management continuum from the least to most managed sites and how the land use legacy of each site impacts soil quality and water quality.

	Amanda Roberts Amanda holds an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in international peace and conflict resolution from Arcadia University, specializing in environmental conflict management. Before coming to UMBC she worked at both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. She has participated in field research in Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, and Northwest Baltimore. Her research interests include human-environment relationships, environmental justice issues, urban growth/landuse/sustainability (specifically the role of community collaboration in urban planning), and the integration of GIS in decision-making processes.

	Phillip Stafford Phillip Stafford earned a BS in Natural Resources Major with a Political Science Minor at The University of the South (Sewanee). He has been a GIS analyst working with land-use change on the Cumberland Plateau, an Americorps volunteer working with stream-bank reclamation and fish habitat in Georgia, an office manager for several environmental non-profits including the Nature Conservatory and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. Between 2004 and 2006 he lived in Belize as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He worked with ten Mayan communities who were co-managing a protected wetland with the Belize Forest Department. Projects included creating eco-tourism infrastructure, including a visitor center and a mile of boardwalk, starting an Agouti paca breeding program to create income and reduce illegal hunting within the sanctuary. Most recently, he has been an environmental consultant in Washington DC doing NEPA analysis. He is currently working on a Masters degree focusing on urban watersheds, mitigation policy, and looking at how communities, government, and businesses can come together to solve urban freshwater issues.

	Olyssa Starry I completed a B.A. in Environmental Studies and an M.S. in Environmental Science at American University, as well as an M.S. in Stream Ecology at Virginia Tech. I am a Trainee in UMBC's "Water in the Urban Environment" IGERT program and a Ph.D. student in Geography and Environmental Systems working principally with Dr. Richard Pouyat. My research will address the mechanisms through which stormwater management practices such as greenroofs influence urban water quality both temporally and spatially. I wonder, for example, if our knowledge of fundamental ecological processes such as succession can be applied to these management practices in order to enhance our understanding of valuable urban ecosystem functions such as stormwater retention and nutrient uptake. I hope to situate information like this in the context of a Baltimore watershed and construct a model that considers how stormwater management decisions might influence both water quantity and quality over short and longterm timescales. I aspire to educate and advocate around this project, its findings, and sustainable, ecologically-informed urban transformation possibilities.

	Nohemi Voglozin Prior to coming to UMBC, I received Masters (2005) and Engineer (2003) degrees in Agronomy and Management of Natural Resources from the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin (West Africa). I am a Ph.D. student in Geography & Environmental Systems working in the Biogeography and Crop Evolution research group at UMBC, under the supervision of Dr Laura Lewis. My Ph.D. research will focus on the conservation of Plant Genetic Resources. Particularly, I am interested in studying the relation between adoption of new cultivars and erosion of genetic diversity of African crop species, particularly African rice (Oryza glaberrima). My research will be threefold: ethnographic surveys to understand farmer’s valuation of diversity and germplasm management, spatial distribution to assess the ecogeography of O. glaberrima and morphological and molecular genetic diversity. The outcomes will be used as part of strategies for improvement of new technology implementation and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources.

	Katherine (Tara) Willey Tara Willey graduated from Virginia Tech with an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science. She returned a few years later to complete a MS in Entomology studying benthic macroinvertebrates. Ms. Willey entered the Geography and Environmental Systems department at UMBC in the fall of 2008. She is also an IGERT Trainee. Her research interests pertain to the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in urban streams, including: (1) large-scale impacts of stream restoration; (2) the relationship between the benthic macroinvertebrates present in urban streams and their habitat, focusing on the influence of hydrologic regime, to understand the limiting factors for the benthic community; and (3) assessment of management techniques, such as stream restoration and TMDLs, to gauge the impact on macroinvertebrate communities.

	Yvette Williams Yvette Williams completed her B.S. degree in Biology at the University of Connecticut and a Masters of Environmental Science degree in Conservation Biology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She is a PhD student in the Geography and Environmental Systems (GES) program at UMBC. The overall focus of her research is to investigate the vegetation diversity of a continuum of managed and unmanaged land types in Baltimore City to determine the potential for ecosystem services (e.g., food production, water infiltration, etc.). This management continuum, which consists of community gardens, "Clean & Green" lots, and unmanaged vacant lots, will be examined in the context of social processes such as population change and poverty status. Her research will utilize existing geospatial databases (i.e., city maps, census information, aerial photography, etc.) and current GIS methodology to examine distribution of vacant lots and community gardens across neighborhoods of Baltimore City. A goal of her research is to generate knowledge for urban planning for restoring the environmental and social well being of urban neighborhoods.

	Harry Wolfe Harry Wolfe received his Bachelor of Science degree in Geography from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1989. After graduating with an emphasis in geomorphology, he worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center studying surface processes on the Moon and Mars. Since then, he has worked in support of various Department of Defense projects, both as the former Vice President of Operations for a small engineering firm, to his current position as a Program Manager at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. He is currently enrolled in the Master's program and his research interests include environmental policy, remote sensing of the earth's surface processes and the mitigation of natural disasters, planetary geomorphology, beach dynamics, and the conservation of national seashores. Of special interest is the recovery of the Aral Sea.