Dan Heins, M.S.
Position: Researcher 5 | UAS Coordinator
Position: RSGAL Director
Links: UAS Lab | Forestry Dept
Is the RSGAL Director. He also coordinates operations in our UAS Laboratory. He earned his M.S. in the Masters of Geographic Information Science (MGIS) program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Dan is an FAA-certified Remote Pilot in Command and holds a certification from the USGIF in GIS and Analysis. He formerly worked for the Office of Naval Intelligence and Lockheed Martin Corporation in operational, analytic, and engineering capacities. Dan is broadly interested in data acquisition, analysis, and production to support sense-making across the spectrum of natural and human activity. Dan co-instructs FNRM 3362/5362 Drones: Data, Applications, and Operations.
Dan teaches the following courses:
- FNRM 3262/5262 Remote Sensing of Environment and Natural Resources (Lab)
- FNRM 3362/5362 Drones: Data, Analysis, and Operations
Andrew Jenks, M.S.
Position: Instructor
Links: Forestry Dept | GIS Courses
Andy's primary interest is in teaching Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning Systems. He has more than 26 years experience with using GIS technology for large commercial businesses. He returned to the University and completed graduate studies specificity to teach and promote geospatial technologies within Natural Resources. His research interests have been: overland sediment transportation, how land use affects conservation reserve lands and various watershed district spatial analytical projects.
Andy teaches several geopspatial courses:
- FNRM 3131/5131 Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for Natural Resources, 4 credits
- ESPM 3031/5031 Applied Global Positioning Systems for Geographic Information Systems, 3 credits
- ESPM 4295W/5295 GIS in Environmental Science and Management, 4 credits
Leif Olmanson, Ph.D.
Position: Researcher 6 (Research Associate)
Degree: NRSM Ph.D. 2012
Advisor: Marvin Bauer
Links: Dissertation | ResearchGate | Water Remote Sensing
Leif is a Research Associate with more than 20 years of experience developing remote sensing applications to create multi-temporal, spatially comprehensive datasets of water and land resources to characterize large ecosystems and ecoregions, and he has authored/co-authored many highly cited articles on these topics. Applications include lake and river water quality and aquatic plant assessments using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, and land cover mapping using multispectral imagery and lidar data with object-based image analysis using random forest classification,. His current research focuses on new, enhanced satellite systems, such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 to measure colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), chlorophyll and non-algal suspended sediments in optically complex inland waters across broad regional scales. He is particularly interested in using cutting edge geospatial analysis to improve understanding of the natural environment. More info here.
Keith Pelletier, M.S.
Position: Researcher 5 (Research Associate)
Degree Objective: NRSM Ph.D. Candidate
Advisor: Joe Knight
Links: Forestry Dept
Keith is a Research Associate and Ph.D. candidate in the Natural Resources Science and Management (NRSM) program. Keith came to the group from the Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Vermont, where he earned a Master's degree and taught GIS and remote sensing classes. Keith is focusing on developing new classification and assessment methods for object-based image analysis of forests.