About

Welcome to my personal page, highlighting some of my research and related endeavors. I have experience working across diverse roles, including remote sensing scientist, biodiversity conservationist, and environmental science educator.

My research focuses on developing environmental monitoring capabilities from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), optical/IR, and Lidar imagery acquired by satellites and drones. Some of my projects include:

Assessing the degradation and recovery of tropical forests to evaluate nature-based climate solutions
Monitoring crop health and developing agricultural inventories to guide sustainable ESG strategies
Fusing ecosystem and landcover data from diverse sources to identify priority regions for biodiversity conservation

If you would like more information on these projects or are interested in collaborating, please send me an email.

Radar imaging satellites "see" through clouds that obscure tropical rainforests. I process Japanese Space Agency's PALSAR-2 satellite data to reveal diverse landcover types in Ecuador's Chocó Biodiversity Hotspot and guide habitat restoration initiatives.

Group photo from our biodiversity research campaign in the Ecuadorian jungle. I've organized numerous tropical forest expeditions for students, scientists, and environmentalists, advancing geospatial research applications and informing conservation policy recommendations.

Derek Tesser