Our Team

We strive to create a welcoming culture that celebrates diversity, promotes equity, fosters inclusion, and ensures belonging. We recognize there are systemic barriers stifling diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia and in the sciences, and we work to restructure this system and make lasting changes. If you are interested in joining the lab, please visit us here to learn more.

 

Amy Frazier, PhD

SCALE Lab Director, Professor and Jack and Laura Dangermond Endowed Chair in Conservation Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Amy joined the Department of Geography at UCSB in 2023. Prior to that she was an Associate Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University from 2018-2023 and an Assistant Professor of Geography at Oklahoma State University from 2013-2018. Amy is a core faculty member in the Center for Spatial Studies at UCSB, which has been a leader in geographic thought, spatial analysis, and spatial data science for more than three decades.

afrazier [at] ucsb.edu

CV | Google Scholar | Twitter

Postdoctoral Scholars

Diyang Cui, PhD

Diyang Cui is a postdoc in the lab. She is interested in global change biology, conservation biogeography, and remote sensing and is involved in the NSF-funded project BioFI: Biodiversity Forecasting Initiative to Understand Population, Community and Ecosystem Function under Climate Change. Her research involves using climate and species data and integrating geospatial analyses and modeling tools, to understand and predict biodiversity patterns and inform conservation under climate change. She completed her Ph.D. in Geographic Sciences at the University of Maryland in 2022, and her Bachelor’s in Geography at Beijing Normal University in 2017.

Google Scholar | GitHub

Lei Song, PhD

Lei is a postdoc in the lab. She earned her Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University in 2023. Lei’s research focuses on species conservation and human-wildlife relations. She employs remote sensing and geospatial analysis to understand climate and human impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, facilitating data-driven solutions for land use planning

Google Scholar | GitHub

PhD Students

Wenxin Yang

Wenxin Yang is a PhD student in the lab. She is interested in spatial ecology and using remote sensing and GIS to examine conservation issues. She is involved in the NSF-funded project Near-term Forecasts of Global Plant Distributions to model the connectivity of protected areas in the U.S. She received an M.S. in Urban Spatial Analytics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 and a B.S. in Resources and Environmental Science from Beijing Normal University in 2018.

Google Scholar | GitHub

Kenzie Shandonay

Kenzie Shandonay is a PhD student in the lab. She is a geomorphologist who uses a multi-method approach to study landscape evolution at different spatial and temporal scales. Her current research combines paleoclimate and geochronological methods, remote sensing, field experiments, and laboratory analysis to study sand dunes and aeolian (wind-blown) environments. She received an M.S. in geography from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a B.S. in geography and environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Google Scholar

Joseph Karanja

Joseph Karanja is a PhD student in the lab. His research focuses on heat vulnerability, entailing the integration of geodemographics and environmental vulnerability to create composite metrics of heat vulnerability across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Additionally, he examines the role of geographical context, populational, and locational attributes in driving heat vulnerability using spatial statistics. Joseph attained his masters in Geosciences from Georgia State University and a bachelors in Environmental Planning and  Management from Kenyatta University.

Google Scholar

Patrick Rhodes

Patrick Rhodes is a PhD student in the lab. He is interested in using GIS and remote sensing to study ecological and conservation issues. He received an M.S. from the University of Arizona in GIST, an M.A from Arizona State University in English, and a B.S. from the University of Memphis in Computer Engineering.

Google Scholar

Xue Yan

Xue Yan is a PhD student in the lab. She is interested in integrating field investigation, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and modeling tools to promote invasive species control and biodiversity conservation. She received an M.S. in Ecology from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and a B.S. in Physical Geography and Resource & Environment from Changsha University of Science & Technology.

Izzy Lopez

Izzy Lopez is an MA/PhD student in the lab. She recently received a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire in Wildlife & Conservation Biology and Geospatial Analysis. Her current research interests include the intersection of restoration ecology, conservation, and remote sensing.

Google Scholar

Past lab members

  • Postdocs

    Dr. Teresa Bohner

    Dr. Benjamin Hemingway

    Dr. Cesar Hinojo-Hinojo

  • PhD Students

    K. Colton Flynn

    Benjamin Hemingway

    Gustavo A. Ovando Montejo

  • Masters Students

    Abdulrahman Alsanad

    D. Clay Barrett

    Benjamin Hemingway

    Catherine Hudson

    Brandi Kapos

    Arnold Chi Kedia

    Songmei Liu

    Gustavo A. Ovando Montejo

    Rebecca Perlin

    Hejun Quan

    Barira Rashid

    Anastasia Stats

    Amanda Thomas

    Alonzo Totsonie