The people who make LandPKS

Our Team

Jeff Herrick

Global Lead

Carolyn Kerchof

Communications & Storytelling Lead

Maximilian Contreras

Program Specialist

Ciaran Kenny

Lead Programmer

Jason Neff

Modelling Lead

Jonathan Maynard

Soil Scientist

George Peacock

Rangeland Scientist

Lilian Ndungu

GIS Coordinator

Adane Buni

LandPKS Country Coordinator

Thanh Nguyen

Programmer

Luis Terrones

App Tester

Jason Karl

Technical Advisor

David Kimiti

Research Technician

Travis Nauman

Soil Scientist

Kevin Urama

Research Technician

Terri Schulz

Advisor

Tegan May

Advisor

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Jeff Herrick

Global Lead

Jeff is a soil scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Las Cruces, New Mexico and holds adjunct faculty appointments at New Mexico State University and Colorado University Boulder. His research focuses on the factors that control the resistance and resilience of dryland ecosystems, and he has developed a number of inventory, assessment, monitoring and knowledge management tools that are applied at plot to national scales. He serves as an advisor to US government agencies on increasing return on investments in rangeland monitoring and assessment, is a member of the International Resources Panel, and is the US Government’s science representative to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). His international work also includes collaboration with scientists, land managers, and development organizations in over 20 countries spanning humid tropical to dry temperate ecosystems.

Carolyn Kerchof

Communications & Storytelling Lead

Carolyn is responsible for communications and outreach at LandPKS. Her background is in editorial design, writing and project management. She previously lived in Switzerland, where she founded a magazine called Zeitgeist for intergenerational storytelling and inclusive design. She holds an MA in the History and Philosophy of Knowledge from ETH Zurich, an MA in Design from the Zurich University of the Arts, and a BA in English from George Washington University.

Maximilian Contreras

Program Specialist

Maximilian is a program specialist and local coordinator for LandPKS based in Las Cruces, NM. His main roles are coordinating team communication and projects, database management, providing administrative and user support, managing app development, and website maintenance. He holds a BA in Music and Theater, and a background in media library management.

Ciaran Kenny

Lead Programmer

Ciaran Kenny is the lead programmer for LandPKS. He has ten years experience architecting, developing and managing full life cycle of software and technology for a variety of web, mobile, e-commerce, middleware and database systems. Five years experience working with customers to define, scope and estimate projects, and providing training and consulting services to bring new clients up to speed. Proven background building and managing technical teams, and adaptable to a variety of technologies, industries, situations and audiences. He has a PhD in Numerical Modeling and BEng in Electrical Engineering. As the Director of Web Technology for Gaiam (2010-2016), he built an app development team that deployed two top ten Apps in the iTunes Health and Fitness category.

Jason Neff

Modeling Lead

Jason is the modeling lead for LandPKS. He is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies program at CU Boulder where he also directs the undergraduate program in Environmental Studies. His research area is in biogeochemistry with a focus on a diverse array of subjects ranging from studies of the carbon cycle to atmospheric mineral aerosols. Through all these areas, Neff’s primary interest is in how human activities influence the movement of nutrients and material through the Earth System and the impacts of changing biogeochemical cycles on both natural ecosystems and human society. He has served in a wide variety of roles at the University of Colorado and nationally and has authored over 80 scientific publications and a forthcoming introductory environmental science digital text titled ‘A Changing Planet: the Science of Sustainability’. Neff speaks frequently to the media and public on the topic of land use change and dust storms in the deserts of the western US and has served on advisory panels for a wide variety of organizations including the US DOE, NASA, NSF, NCEAS, and other international science agencies. Professor Neff received his BA in Biology from The University of Colorado at Boulder (1993) and a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University (1999).

Jonathan Maynard

Soil Scientist

Jonathan is a research ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Las Cruces, NM. He holds a Ph.D. is Soils and Biogeochemistry and a M.S. in Soil Science from the University of California, Davis. Jonathan’s current research is focused on the use of remote sensing and spatial modeling techniques to quantify and predict patterns and processes of human-affected ecosystem change. His research strives to generate management relevant information and novel technologies to assist national land resource monitoring programs. Jonathan is currently working to develop new techniques for the synthesis and delivery of ecological site information for LPKS.

George Peacock

Rangeland Scientist

George has Master of Science in Range Science from Texas Tech University and a Bachelor of Science in Range Management from Sul Ross State University. He has worked as a rangeland management specialist for USDA-NRCS at the field, area, state, and national level. George has experience in natural resource databases, requirements analysis, design and testing of web services for several resource conservation projects. He is currently working on development of a land capability classification module for LandPKS.

Lilian Ndungu

GIS Coordinator

Lilian has a Masters of Science in Geographic Information Systems and a Bachelors of Science in Business Information Technology. Based in Kenya, her role is to liaise with local, national and regional organizations in Kenya and Namibia to obtain datasets that will help populate LandPKS global inputs.

Adane Buni

LandPKS Country Coordinator

Adane Buni is the LandPKS Country Coordination Officer for Ethiopia. Adane has graduated in Water Security and International Development at a Masters of Science Degree level from University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Previously he has studied Soil Science(MSc) at Hawassa University, Ethiopia and Soil and Water Engineering and Management (BSc) at Haramaya University, Ethiopia. Adane has approximately nine years of work experience at various organizations in different parts of Ethiopia. He has lectured in the departments of small scale irrigation and rural water supply at Hawassa Polytechnic College for five years. He was also an Associate Researcher at Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research.

Thanh Nguyen

Programmer

Thanh is a PhD candidate in the Computer Science Department at New Mexico State University. He graduated with his Masters of Computer Science at James Cook University in Australia. His thesis, entitled Data Mining in Internet Banking, is currently being used in a number of Asian banks. Thanh is developing the core back-end analytic system and web services for the LandPKS system. Additionally, his interests include data mining and knowledge discovery, classification, clustering, association rules, similarity, artificial Intelligence, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning, logic programming, answer set programming, robotics and big-data mining.

Luis Terrones

App Tester

Luis is a full time undergraduate at New Mexico State University. He anticipates graduating in December 2020 with a dual bachelor’s in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Related to Aerospace, he is a member of a national rocketry organization, in which he and his team develop and manufacture structural components of the rockets. His roles as an App tester for LandPKS include the integration of test plans for manual test development and assuring quality control with the assessment of the LandPKS app on different platforms.

Jason Karl

Technical Advisor

Jason is a research ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Las Cruces, New Mexico with a PhD in Fisheries and Wildlife and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Michigan State University. His research focuses on the applications of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and ecological informatics to sustainable land management. Jason has 20 years of experience in conservation planning, spatial analysis and natural resource monitoring with the ARS, The Nature Conservancy, and other NGOs. He currently works extensively with the Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and other U.S. federal agencies on the development and implementation of techniques, tools and strategies for land health monitoring. Jason is the developer and principal investigator for the JournalMap and Landscape Toolbox projects.

David Kimiti

Research Technician

David has a PhD from New Mexico State University and his dissertation looks at the utility of LandPKS in rangeland restoration and management in Eastern Africa. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Range Ecology and a Bachelors of Science degree in Range Management from the University of Nairobi in Kenya. David is broadly experienced in natural resource management in Eastern African rangelands and spent three years working at Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation in Laikipia, Kenya. His experiences include rangeland health assessment and monitoring, rangeland restoration, and elephant conservation. David’s area of focus was on use of land-potential knowledge for the restoration of degraded rangelands, with special consideration to developing and evaluating methods that reduce bare ground cover and promote conservation of resources in a cost effective manner.

Travis Nauman

Soil Scientist

Travis is a soil scientist with the US Geological survey in Moab, Utah with a PhD in Plant and Soil Science from West Virginia University and M.S. from University of Arizona in Soil and Water Science. His work generally encompasses the role of soils in ecosystem responses to different drivers of change. He has pioneered new methods to improve soil surveys using remote sensing and spatial modeling to meet needs of land management decision support systems. He has also worked in development and interpretation of natural resources inventory and monitoring programs with a wide variety of public, private, non-profit, and academic entities to help integrate data-driven research into land management frameworks emphasizing soil processes, site potential frameworks, and erosion mitigation. Travis has worked across the southwestern United States, Appalachian Mountains, and in parts of China to integrate field assessments of soil and vegetation into agricultural, rangeland, and forest management plans.

Kevin Urama

Research Technician

Dr. Urama is the Inaugural President of the African Society for Ecological Economics (ASEE), in the African chapter of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE). He is also Professor in the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; and an Adjunct Professor at the Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, University of Murdoch, Western Australia. Additionally, he serves on the High-Level Panel on Global Assessment of Resources for Implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is also a member the OECD Green Growth and Poverty Reduction Task Team, and the UNESCO Governing Board of the International Research and Training Centre for Science and Technology Strategy (CISTRAT), Beijing. Kevin is current Chair of the Open Society Foundation’s Africa Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (ACCAI), member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Bio-Resources Innovations Network for Eastern Africa Development, and a Consultant for the Climate Change Strategy of the African Union Commission.

Terri Schulz

Advisor

Terri Schulz is a Senior Conservation Ecologist for the Colorado Nature Conservancy. She is working on integrating biodiversity habitat information into LandPKS. Terri is a science leader in conservation land management in Colorado and works with ranchers on improved management and conservation outcomes. She also leads large-scale conservation planning efforts and has trained Nature Conservancy, students, and partner staff in the Rocky Mountains as well as in Thailand, Kenya, Mongolia, China and India. Terri also is a conservation coach serving on the executive board for the Conservation Coaches Network and Conservation Measures Partnership. Terri earned a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and a M.S. in Range Ecology from Colorado State University.

Tegan May

Advisor

Tegan is a Conservation Program Associate at The Nature Conservancy, Colorado, based in Boulder, CO. She works closely with the LandPKS team creating two new modules for the app; habitat and utilization. The work is funded by an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant. Tegan has a background in ecology, land management, agriculture and project management. Hailing from Australia, Tegan has also worked in conservation for more than 10 years, including 5 years in Canada and the US. She holds an MS in Conservation and Wildlife Science and a BS in Marine Science from Murdoch University, Australia.

The people who make LandPKS

Our Team

Jeff Herrick

Carolyn Kerchof

Maximilian Contreras

Ciaran Kenny

Jason Neff

Jonathan Maynard

George Peacock

Lilian Ndungu

Adane Buni

Thanh Nguyen

Luis Terrones

Jason Karl

David Kimiti

Travis Nauman

Kevin Urama

Terri Schulz

Tegan May

LandPKS in the Field

Mobile App

LandPKS at your Desk

Data Portal

Newsletter Signup

Newsletter Signup

Jeff Herrick

Global Lead

Carolyn Kerchof

Communications & Storytelling Lead

Maximilian Contreras

Program Specialist

Ciaran Kenny

Lead Programmer

Jason Neff

Modeling Lead

Jonathan Maynard

Soil Scientist

George Peacock

Rangeland Scientist

Lilian Ndungu

GIS Coordinator

Adane Buni

LandPKS Country Coordinator

Thanh Nguyen

Programmer

Luis Terrones

App Tester

Jason Karl

Technical Advisor

David Kimiti

Research Technician

Travis Nauman

Soil Scientist

Kevin Urama

Research Technician

Terri Schulz

Advisor

Tegan May

Advisor