Juan 3:16 ∴ Carpe Vitae

GRADUATE STUDENTS

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Badri Bhattari

PhD student

Badri Bhattarai has a strong background in sustainable forest management, forest carbon dynamics, and biodiversity conservation. He holds a master’s degree in forestry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, where his research focused on treeline dynamics and their impact on carbon storage in the Nepal Himalayas.

Badri’s research focuses on forest disturbances and ecosystem resilience, specifically understanding how forest productivity, biomass, stand diversity, and climatic interactions influence resilience to bark beetle disturbances.
He has worked on several national and international projects in Nepal, including the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the University of Bern, National Forest Inventory; development of allometric equations of major tree species of Nepal; remeasurement of permanent sample plots; identification and mapping of urban springsheds; preparation of sustainable forest management plans for community forests; and environmental impact assessments of hydropower projects. His duties as a professional varied from field-based data collecting and spatial analysis to report preparation and managing projects.
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In his free time, he enjoys learning new skills, travelling to new places, hiking, connecting and networking with people and exploring new ideas and perspectives.

Sarah Morais

Master's Student

Sarah is a Forest Engineer from the University of Brasília (UnB), Brazil, and Managing Partner at Ecoquality Soluções Ambientais. She has over 10 years of experience leading ecological restoration projects in the Caatinga biome, with a focus on degraded land recovery associated with renewable energy development.

Her current interests focus on investigating the factors that promote forest resilience, understanding forest recovery dynamics following disturbance, and evaluating ecosystem recovery through biodiversity patterns, ecosystem function, and soil–plant–water interactions.

In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time outdoors with her family.

​Non-Thesis Master's Degree Students

​Julieta Viñas Vilá 

Julia is a master's student with a BS in Horticulture. She has always had a passion for conservation and restoring the environment and will carry that into her gradutue study.  She is a firm believer in working alongside nature and not against it. She hopes to expand her knowledge and skills to eventually have a career to assess tropical and coastal ecosystems sustainably. 

Emile Belmontes​

Emile is from Houston, Texas, he has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Saint Edwards University. He is passionate about land management in forest restoration and creating climate resilient forest ecosystems. On his off days he like to go bouldering, climbing trees and reading. He also has hopes of working in forestry abroad. ​

COOKS BRANCH FDP 2026 TREE CENSUS TEAM

Ryan Alexander

Ian Jett

Isyka Silva
Technician & Team Lead
Ryan is from College Station, Texas, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management from Texas A&M University. He has a strong interest in stewardship and land management, with experience in ecological processes, wildlife management, grazing systems, and plant identification. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys playing pickleball and mountain biking.
Volunteer Census Intern
​Ian is from San Diego, California and has a Bachelor of Science in Entomology from the University of California, Davis. He spent much of his undergrad doing field ecology, exploring insect behavior and plant-insect interactions. He has a growing interest in the impacts of insects as herbivores and disease vectors in forest systems. Some examples include the expansion and impacts of the Emerald Ash Borer on North American ash trees and the factors driving outbreaks of the Mountain Pine Beetle. As someone who is passionate about insects, Ian is pursuing a career in conservation, focusing on land management and restoration to build a world where insect biodiversity and habitat stability are prioritized and people can enjoy our natural spaces. In his free time he enjoys hiking, bird watching, climbing, and collecting insects. 
Volunteer Census Intern
Isyka earned a B.S. in Biology from Sam Houston State University and has a deep interest in ecology and environmental conservation. Their experience includes invasive species removal and hands-on fieldwork. They bring a thoughtful, reliable, and motivated approach to environmental work.

Freya Christensen-Miller

Sav Wartenbach

Andrew Buckland
Volunteer Census Intern
Freya is a recent Virginia transplant with a Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY-ESF, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.  She enjoys reading, doodling, and going for long walks.  A passionate conservationist, she’s currently working toward an ecology career; her eventual goal is to go into habitat restoration, where she hopes to spend the rest of her life rebuilding forests and playing with dogs on her days off. 
​Volunteer Census Intern
Sav is on the journey to become an ecologist. She is inspired by how ecosystems function and is very passionate about public land, land restoration, and habitat improvement. She is interested in land conservation and management and how those practices need to evolve with the progression of climate change. One of her major interests is how invasive species are changing ecosystem dynamics, especially through beneficial and detrimental allelopathy, how much change can be tolerated by the ecosystem, and if or when land management needs to happen. Lastly, she especially loves birding in her free time because it inspires her to be present and patient, even if she has an eight-hour hike to get through before dark!
​Volunteer Census Intern
Andrew is from Lehi, Utah, and has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Utah Valley University. He has a passion for forest ecosystems and is interested in pursuing a career as a forest ecologist. He hopes to work toward a future in which all forests can thrive.

LAB ALUMNI

Sav Wartenbach - 2026 CBFDP Tree Census Intern
​Isyka Silva​ - 2026 CBFDP Tree Census Intern
Biography:

​I have witnessed first-hand the effects that climate change can have on forests.  Around the turn of the century, several abnormally warm years led to the outbreak of the mountain pine beetle where I grew up in Summit County, Colorado.  Over the span of a decade, high rates of mortality transformed several thousand acres of forest, leaving behind a tinderbox of standing dead lodge-pole Pine trees.  This completely changed the landscape of the area with potential effects on longer-term ecosystem functioning.  Climate change will continue to impact and shape the forests of the Mountain West and the globe. 

I am a field-experienced and academically trained forest ecologist.  I use many approaches to study forest ecosystems, including community and ecosystem ecology, plant physiology, plot-based studies, functional ecology, and remote sensing.  My scientific motivation is to document and better understand forest (and tree) responses to global change (e.g., disturbance, warming, increasing CO2, drought).  I have a fascination with high-diversity tropical forests.  I have done research in tropical and temperate forests.   

My research focuses on understanding the ecology of forests and their future functioning as ecosystems in the Anthropocene

Academic degrees:
2011 - B.S. in Ecology and Biodiversity from University of Denver
2015 - M.S. en Ciencias Ambientales de la Universidad de Puerto Rico - Río Piedras
2021 - Ph.D. in Biology from Florida International University 

Lab lead - J. Aaron Hogan, Ph.D.
​Assistant Professor of Forestry