People
       

D. Scott Mackay

Professor
Department of Geography
State University of New York
105 Wilkeson Quadrangle
Buffalo, NY 14261 USA

Phone: +1-716-645-0477
Fax: +1-716-645-2329

dsmackay at buffalo dot edu

Home

 

NEWS

April 2023:
Bhaskar Mitra (PhD 2011) starts new tenure track
position at
James Hutton Institute

September 2022:
New DOE grant to study
hydraulic redistribution and
rhizosphere processes

PhD student Greg Bream
joins the group

Plant, Cell & Environment
paper explores
physiological trait networks

March 2022:
Nature Reviews E & E paper
on woody-plant mortality

June 2021:
Welcome Do Hyoung Kim!
Postdoctoral Associate

January 2020:
Diane Wang starts new
faculty position at
Purdue University

November 2019:
Paper by X. Tai, in JGR
adds a plant hydraulic
mechanism for trees
survival of bark beetles

July 2019:
Paper in New Phytologist
suggests conifers survive
drought using deep roots

March 2019:
JXB paper by Diane W.
advances integration
of genomics and
biophysical modeling

August 2018:
Xiaonan joins
University of Utah
as Post Doc

June 29 2018:
Xiaonan and Jon
successfully defend
their dissertations

June 2017:
Welcome Diane Wang!
Postdoctoral Associate

April 2017:
Jon Pleban awarded
CAS Diisertation Fellow

April 2017:
Xiaonan Tai a finalist
in UB 3-minute thesis

January 2017:
Xiaonan Tai awarded
CUAHSI Pathfinder
for field research

September 2016:
New NSF grant on
biophysical modeling
and plant genomics

July 2016:
New paper on roles of
plants hydraulics and
topography on SAD
Tai et al New Phytol.

June 2016:
Phil Savoy joins the
Biology Department at
Duke University
as a post doc

June 2016:
Phil Savoy successfully
defended his PhD
dissertation

December 2015:
New paper on
Massive Conifer Mortality
Nature Climate Change
Report at LANL

AGU's From the Prow:
The Next 50 Years of WRR

August 2015:
New paper on coupling
plant hydraulic traits
and canopy process
published in
Water Resources Research

May 2015:
Two new NSF grants
from Plant Genome
and Integrated Ecology
Physiology programs

April 2015:
Phil Savoy awarded
CAS Dissertation Fellow

May 2014:
Jon Pleban receives
Abrahams-Woldenberg
award for field research

August 2013
Huicheng Chien
joined SUNY New Paltz
as Assistant Professor

August 2012:
Mike Loranty
joined Colgate U.
as Assistant Professor

April 2012:
Jonathan Pleban
awarded an IGERT
fellowship

February 2011:
Bhaskar Mitra
joins the U. Arizona
as a Post Doc

Huicheng Chien
successfully defends
his Ph.D. dissertation

October 2010:
Bhaskar Mitra
successfuly defends
his Ph.D. dissertation

May 2009:
Bhaskar Mitra receives
Abrahams-Woldenberg
award for field research

March 2009:
Mike Loranty's PhD
reported by NSF

 


 Ecohydrology Group's Personnel

Faculty

D. Scott Mackay (Ph.D. 1997, University of Toronto)
Professor
ORCID ID 0000-0003-0477-9755



Postdoctoral Associates (Current)

Do Hyoung Kim (June 1, 2021 to present)
Funding: NSF, UB CAS


Ph.D. Students (Current)

Greg Bream (Ph.D., Geography, 2027 anticipated)

Dissertation title:
Funding: CAS

 
Mitchell Hitchcock (Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, 2024 anticipated)

Dissertation title:
Funding: CAS, NSF, DOE
Awards: Schomburg Fellow



Master's Students (Current)


Chang Liu (M.S. Geographic Information Science, 2023 anticipated)

Sanhanat Isama Ael Rtn (M.S. Geographic Information Science, 2024 anticipated)


Undergraduate Students



Alumni

Douglas E. Ahl (Ph.D. 2002; Post-Doc 2002; UW-Madison)
Dissertation title: A measurement and modeling perspective on requirements for future remote sensing vegetation indices and classification
Funding sources: USDA McIntire-Stennis, NASA;
Previous positions: Technical Director, Energy Center of Wisconsin;

Director of research, Seventhwave
Current position: Vice President of Information Technology, Slipstream LLC

Kathryn M. Brown (M.A. 2014)
Project title: Investigating the death of a river: Identifying correlation between channel processes and state of channel decline
Current position: Teacher, Fredonia Central School District

Sean N. Burrows (Ph.D. 2002; UW-Madison)
Dissertation title: Geostatistical estimation of leaf area index and net primary production of five North american biomes
Funding sources: USDA McIntire-Stennis, NASA;
Current position: Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Ascend Analytics

Zeshing Cai (M.S. 2013)
Project title: TOPMODEL add-in: A GIS extension for ArcMap that implements TOPMODEL to simulate streamflow within a watershed

Ryan Cassens (M.A. 2009)
Thesis title: Using Aster L1A data to identify locations of Japanese knotwood (Fallopia japonica) along the West Kill and Schoharie creeks in Green County, NY

Erin Cavagnaro Beyer (M.A. 2014)
Current position: Management Consultant, ARCADIS, Buffalo & New York City

Shana Chapman (M.A. 2015)
Project title: Comparison of side scan sonar substrate classification methods to assess accuracy

Eileen Chen (M.S. 2002; UW-Madison)

Project title: Effects of combining non-spatial simulation units and explicit models of sediment delivery on an agricultural nonpoint source pollution model
Funding source: USDA Hatch

Current position: Groundwater Resources Scientist, Alameda County Water District, Fremont, California

Matthew Chen (M.S. 2016)

Zhuo Chen (M.A. 2012)
Current position: Software engineer, Apple Corporation

Huicheng Chien (Ph.D. 2011)
Dissertation title: Time-series analysis of watershed scale predictions of water quantity and quality export from agricultural watersheds
Funding sources: EPA, NSF Hydrology
Previous position: Post-doc, University of Saint Louis
Current position: Associate Professor, SUNY New Paltz


Brian Conley (M.A. 2012)
Current position: GIS Research Analyst, University at Buffalo Regional Institute

Jose Covarrubias Rocha (M.A. 2007)
Thesis title: Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Evaluation of vegetal coverage in the Bolivian Andean Plate (Kori Kollo Mine)

Larry Cutforth (M.S., 2003; UW-Madison)
Current position: GIS State Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Madison, Wisconsin

Brian W. Dudek (M.A. 2009)
Thesis title: Water stress and scarcity in metropolitan Phoenix using the Water Poverty Index: An examination of vulnerability

Brent E. Ewers (Postdoctoral Fellow, 1999-2002; UW-Madison)
Funding source: NASA
Current position: Professor, Department of Botany and Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming


Thomas W. FitzHugh (M.S. 1999; UW-Madison)
Thesis title: Spatial aggregation of an agricultural nonpoint source pollution model
Funding source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Current position: Supervising Water Resources Scientist, MWH Global, Bellevue, WA, 2015-present

Previous positions:
Water Resources Modeler, Bureau of Reclamation; Global Freshwater Water Management Analyst, The Nature Conservancy; GIS Analyst, The Nature Conservancy


Mary (Freiss) Masse (NSF REU Summer 2010)
Project: Modeling plant hydraulic strategies under drought conditions in a northern hardwood forest
Funding source: NSF REU
Current: Ph.D. student, Department of Geology, University at Buffalo

Michael Graham (M.A. 2007)

J. Lynn Hickerson (NSF REU Summer 2014)
Project: Quantifying the stress response of Brassica rapa genotypes, with experimental drought in two nitrogen treatments

Funding sources: NSF REU

Alexander Jackson (M.A. 2012)

Shikai Jin (M.S. 2013)
Project: Analysis of crime cases distribution pattern of Buffalo City, NY: On spatial and space-time scale
Past position: MS Computer Software Engineering, San Jose State University
Current position: Software development engineer, Amazon, Sunnyvale, CA


Steven Knapp (M.A. 2004)
Current position: Geologist at National Fuel and Gas, Amherst, NY
Previous position: GIS Analyst, Verdi & Company, Buffalo, NY

Yang Liu (M.S. GIScience, 2020)

Michael M. Loranty (Ph.D. 2009)
Dissertation title: Towards a mechanistic understanding of spatial patterns of forest transpiration, and its implications for scaling
See
NSF Discoveries: Taking the pulse of the forest
Funding sources: NSF Hydrology
Awards: NSF IGERT Fellow, UB Dissertation Fellowship
Past position: Post Doc, Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Colgate University (see Loranty Lab)


Kristina M. Macro (Summer 2014)
Past position: MS Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo
Current position: Hydroinformatics Engineer at Xylem, Buffalo, NY


Judy Malas
(NSF REU Summer 2017)

Project: Quantifying chloroplast movement as part of a broader use of rapid phenotyping in understanding crop produciivty responses to the environment

Funding sources: NSF REU
Current position: PhD student, University of Illinois Chicago


Shelby Marshall (NSF REU Summer 2011)
Project: Spatial dynamics of nitrate in Conewango Creek, New York
Funding sources: NSF REU

Bhaskar Mitra (Ph.D. 2011)
Dissertation title: Role of plant hydraulics in influencing the spatial distribution of carbon flux across the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem: A quantitative analysis
Funding sources
: DOE NICCR
Awards: Presidential Fellowship, Abrahams-Woldenberg Scholarship, Mark Diamond Fellowship
Past positions: Post Doc,
The University of Arizona,
NC State / Texas A&M
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Northern Arizona University

Chukwumerije Bryson Okeoma (M.A. 2006)


Jonathan R. Pleban (Ph.D., 2018, Post-doc Aug-Dec 2018)

Dissertation title: Advances in phenotyping photosynthesis: An experiment modeling approach using crop species Brassica rapa
Funding: NSF (IGERT, ISEP, PGRP)
Awards: NSF IGERT Fellow


Spencer Podsiadlo (M.A Geography, 2018)
Research:


David E. Roberts (M.S. 2012)
Thesis title: Development of a coupled ecosystem exchange plant hydraulic model to explore drought related plant mortality
Funding source: NSF Hydrology, DOE NICCR
Current position: Senior Software Engineer, Resource Data Inc., Portland, OR


Michael Ruffino (M.A. 2014)
Thesis title: A survey of recovery, and geography in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous: A case study of location and recovery from alcoholism
Current position: Information Technology Engineer - GIS, Erie County Division of Sewerage Management, Buffalo, NY

Xiaohan Rui (M.S. GIS, 2018)
Research:


Sudeep Samanta (M.S. 2001, Ph.D. 2005; UW-Madison)
Ph.D. dissertation title: Bayesian analysis of a conceptual transpiration model with a comparison of canopy conductance sub-models
M.S. thesis title: Influence of event characteristics on predictive uncertainty of a hydrologic model
Funding sources: UW Graduate School, USDA Hatch, NASA, NSF
Current position: Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

Philip Savoy (Ph.D. 2016)
Research: Modeling the seasonal course of canopy dynamics: Incorporating physiology into phenological models
Funding: College of Arts & Sciences
Awards: CAS Dissertation Fellow
Past position: Post Doc, Duke University, USGS
Current position: Physical Scientist, USGS


Aga Shirazi (B.A. 2005)
Funding source: NSF
Previous position: GIS Analyst, First American Flood and Data Services, Virgina
Current position: Sr. Task Leader, Undus Corporation, Washington D.C.

Marta Szumski (B.S. Biology, expected 2018)
Project: Leaf growth dynamics of Brassica rapa

Funding sources: CAS
Current position: Science Teacher, Buffalo Academy of Science Charter School, Buffalo, NY


Warit Silavisesrith (Ph.D. 2008)
Dissertation title: Contextually-based framework for improved data reduction in regional scale analytic element groundwater models
Current position: Senior GIS Applications Developr, Wendel Companies, Buffalo, New York.


Ryan Stotz (M.S. 2012)
Current position: Asset manager, Veolia Water North America, Buffalo, NY


Xiaonan Tai (Ph.D., 2018)
Dissertation title: Spatial variations of drought-induced forest mortality: Integrating plant hydraulics and distributed hydrology
Funding: NSF IOS, State
Awards: UB Presidential Fellow, CUAHSI Pathfinder, 3MT finalist
Past position: Postdoctoral Associate, University of Utah
Current position: Assistant Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology


Kevin Tan (B.S. GIS, expected 2018)
Project: Using Forest Inventory and Analysis data to quantify and predict tree mortality responses to drought

Funding sources: CAS


Taryn V. Tomasik (M.A. 2011)
Funding source: DOE NICCR
Current position: New York Department of Conservation


Patricia Trawinski (Ph.D., 2007)
Dissertation title: Spatio-temporal landscape models for West Nile Virus vector population abundance and distribution
Current position: Assistant Professor, Erie Community College, Buffalo, NY

Danqing Wang (M.S. GIScience, 2019)
Project title:

Diane R. Wang (Post doc, June 2017 to December 2019)
Funding: NSF PGRP, CAS
Current position: Assistant Professor, Purdue University

Jiaqi Wang (M.A. 2013)

Aileen Zebrowski (NSF REU, summer 2016)
Project: Influences of nitrate concentration on the productivity of four Brassica rapa genotypes
Funding sources: NSF REU, NSF PGRP
Current position: Environmental Engineer, K. Singh & Associates, Inc, Madison, Wisconsin



(c) 2022 D.S. Mackay