About Us

Cayelan Carey

Center Co-Director

Professor
cayelan@vt.edu

I strive to advance our predictive understanding of freshwaters in a changing world by developing new technologies for monitoring lakes and reservoirs, integrating data with models, and cultivating collaborative and interdisciplinary teams of scientists, managers, and other community members.

Quinn Thomas

Center Co-Director

Professor
rqthomas@vt.edu

I am excited about developing and applying novel quantitative techniques to examine the effects of global change on the environment, with the overarching objective of forecasting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem dynamics into the future.

Mary Lofton

Computational Limnologist

Post-doc
melofton@vt.edu

I use ecological modeling and forecasting to understand and predict the future of our freshwater resources and develop ecological forecasting educational materials for undergraduate students. My goal is to enable a predictive, pre-emptive approach to water quality management, and help undergraduate students develop data science and systems-thinking skills.

Freya Olsson

Computational Limnologist

Post-doc
freyao@vt.edu

I work with range of statistical and process-based models to forecast conditions in freshwater sites across the continental US and champion the aquatics EFI-NEON Forecast Challenge that uses these data.

Austin Delany

Environmental Data Scientist

Computational and Data Science Specialist
addelany@vt.edu

I maintain and enhance the automated infrastructure, data pipelines, and software across all of the team’s projects.

Adrienne Breef-Pilz

Sensor Technician

Lab and Field Manager
abreefpilz@vt.edu  

I create, maintain, and enhance environmental sensors used in forecasting workflows, and work closely with managers to help our data and forecasts be more effectively used by the broader community

Dan Stanton

Program Coordinator

Certified Project Manager
Danstanton5@vt.edu

Through program management and coordination, I strive to enable each person on this innovative team of scientists to be their best.

Bobby Gramacy

Affiliated Faculty

Professor
rbg@vt.edu

Center Associated Project: Rules of Life Algal Bloom Forecasting

I specialize in areas of real-data analysis to make modeling solutions more efficient and easier to use. I develop cutting-edge statistical software and methods that can be broadly applied across domains.

Leah Johnson

Affiliated Faculty

Associate Professor
lrjohn@vt.edu

Center Associated Project: NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge

I work at the intersection of statistics, biology, and mathematics to model and forecast infectious disease, as well as dynamics in behavioral and population ecology.

Anuj Karpatne

Affiliated Faculty

Associate Professor
karpatne@vt.edu

Center Associated Project: Ecological Knowledge Guided Machine Learning

I strive to push the capabilities of current standards of machine learning (ML) in solving scientific and societally relevant problems by developing novel methodologies in the emerging field of scientific Knowledge-guided Machine Learning (KGML).

Madeline Schreiber

Affiliated Faculty

Professor
mschreib@vt.edu

Center Associated Project: Virginia Reservoirs LTREB and Rules of Life Algal Bloom Forecasting

I specialize in chemical hydrogeology and developing approaches to make quantitative predictions about solute behavior in natural waters.

Ryan Calder

Affiliated Faculty

Associate Professor
rsdc@vt.edu

Center Associated Project: Rules of Life Algal Bloom Forecasting

I work at the interface of ecological modeling, human health risk assessment and decision science. I strive to improve our predictive ability for the interacting environmental and health impacts of civil infrastructure projects linked to energy transitions and in supporting the development of science-based policy.

Maike Holthuijzen

Alumni

Former post-doc

Current: Post-doc at Sandia National Laboratories

Alexandria Hounshell

Alumni

Former post-doc

Current: Research Oceanographer with the Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting Branch at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) at NOAA

Ryan McClure

Alumni

Former post-doc

Current: Staff Scientist at National Ecological Observatory Network

John Smith

Alumni

Former Ph.D. student

Current: Assistant Professor at Montana State University

Greg Harrison

Alumni

Former undergraduate researcher