Chris Hakkenberg

Biography

(Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2017) is a remote sensing ecologist whose research integrates field and remotely-sensed data to characterize cross-scale patterns, drivers and constraints on forest structure, biodiversity, biomass, and wildfires. Projects seek to understand multi-scale ecological processes by integrating space-borne lidar, broadband optical time series, and hyperspectral remote-sensing data with airborne and field data to support wildfire and conservation policy, planning, and practice.

Education

2017    PhD    Ecology                                  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
​2007    MA      Regional Studies East Asia   Harvard University
​2004    BA       Chinese Studies                   Reed College

Research

Ecology: forest structure and dynamics, biodiversity, fire ecology, macroecology and biogeography
Remote sensing: lidar, image spectroscopy, broad-band optical time series
GIScience: geospatial analysis, ecoinformatics, data visualization
Statistics: parametric, nonparametric, spatial, hierarchical, prediction and inference
Applications: wildfire management, biodiversity conservation

Research projects

His research program currently includes:

• NASA Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE) Mission Team Co-I and Biodiversity Co-Lead (selected) and Wildland Fire Lead (pending). EDGE is a recently selected satellite laser altimeter mission (expected launch in 2030) that represents a transformative leap in technology to monitor global terrestrial ecosystem structure and ice elevations. As Biodiversity Co-Lead, Dr. Hakkenberg will lead the generation of a global structural diversity map product and corresponding Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document. If selected as Wildland Fire Lead, he will engage with key partners to develop Next Generation LANDFIRE fuel structure maps based on GEDI and simulated pre-launch EDGE data in support of 3D fire behavior models.
• NASA Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Science Team PI. GEDI is a space-borne lidar sensor on the International Space Station that provides 25m diameter laser ranging waveform profiles for monitoring vegetation structure. As Science Team PI, Dr. Hakkenberg is investigating the use of space-borne lidar to characterize pre-fire fuel structure, wildfire drivers, lidar structural alternatives to optical-based wildfire severity indices, and lidar-based post-fire vegetation trajectories.
• Save the Redwoods League (SRL) Redwoods Rising research PI . Redwoods Rising is a landscape-scale project to restore areas damaged by historical logging in the Redwood National and State Parks. This research project aims to characterize carbon stocks and sequestration trajectories across SRL’s Redwoods Rising forest treatments using USGS field plots and multi-year airborne lidar.
• California Sentinel Site Network (SSN) member. The California SSN is a statewide network of long-term biodiversity ecological monitoring sites designed to track vegetation, fire, and ecosystem responses to climate change and disturbance across California’s major biomes, providing a coordinated infrastructure for repeated field measurements, remote sensing validation, and cross-site synthesis.