People

Helene Muller-Landau, Principal Investigator

Senior Scientist and Research Ecologist

Helene is broadly interested in understanding plant communities and forest ecosystems. She uses a wide variety of tools, including empirical and theoretical approaches, traditional ground-based field studies and remote sensing, analytical and simulation models, and literature syntheses. Helene obtained a B.A. in mathematics and statistics from Swarthmore College, and PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton University.

mullerh@si.edu

mullerlandaulab@gmail.com

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Profile

Patrick Cannon – post-doctoral fellow

Patrick is a forest ecologist interested in the mechanisms that structure and maintain plant diversity in the tropics and how these mechanisms operate across varying spatial scales. As part of this, he is analyzing hyperspectral and other remote sensing data to map focal tropical tree species at landscape scales. Patrick received his Undergraduate and Masters degree in Biology from the University of Sheffield in 2017, where he also completed his Ph.D. in Tropical Forest Ecology in 2021. Before joining the lab, Patrick spent 3 years as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Reading.

Vicente Vasquez – Graduate fellow

Vicente is currently developing and implementing workflows for automated processing of tropical forest drone imagery time series, and on producing associated data publications. He is a PhD student in Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida. He is Panamanian, and obtained a BS in Environmental Studies from the University of the Ozarks.

Juan Camilo Osorio Ospina – Intern

Juan Camilo is working on species spectral profiles and organ-level 3D models. He is Colombian, and obtained a BSc. in Biology from the University of Los Andes. He is interested in collaborating with companies and institutions that focus on research projects aimed at biodiversity conservation and organizing outreach events for science.

Caroline Troy – Intern

Caroline is working on analyzing the lab’s long-term dendrometer data set from forest plots across Panama. She is a graduate of Brown University where she earned her BSc in environmental science, and she recently completed a Fulbright student research fellowship in India. In her career, she seeks to contribute to forest ecology research, climate change mitigation, and land restoration.

Luisa Fernanda Correa Gomez – Intern

Luisa is working on quantifying carbon fluxes from tree mortality and damage through the integration of drone photogrammetry and ground field surveys. She is Colombian, and obtained a BEng in Forest Engineering and an MS in Forests and Environmental Conservation from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Jessie McLean – Intern

Jessie is part of the GEO-TREES project for the standardisation of forest measurement using remote sensing technology, particularly terrestrial laser scanning. She is half Scottish and half American and has an integrated Masters in Biology from the University of Oxford (MBiol). Jessie is excited to contribute to forest ecology and conservation research.

Genesis Villarreal – Intern

Genesis measures spectral data from seedling leaves of tropical plant species within a rainfall gradient in the center of Panama. She hopes to add quality spectral data to the current collaboration with the Yale Planetary Solutions Project for Tropical Plant Species Automatized Identification. She has participated in several tropical field courses at the Smithsonian Research Institute, which inspired her to keep studying plant ecology and forest dynamics. She is interested in land sustainability within tropical forests, and she is currently an undergrad student progressing her thesis research at the lab. Her hope is to apply to a masters program that allows her to keep working in the ecology field, to create tools, and to research for better management strategies of tropical forests

Fernando Arauz – Research Technician

Fernando is Panamanian forestry engineer, he graduated from the Technological University of Panama (UTP). He has an interest in forest ecology, particularly in the application of remote sensing and GIS tools. In 2022, he participated in the program: Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation in Panama, with the School for International Training (SIT). The following year, he was enrolled with the Panama Field Study Semester (PFSS) with McGill University. During 2023–2024, he worked as a research technician with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Cary Institute of Ecosystems (Dead Lab), where he contributed to field data collection using QGIS, accompanying data management, and assisted in monthly drone flights with a large VTOL drone.

Pablo Ramos – Research Technician

Pablo is the lead technician in Panama for the Smithsonian ForestGEO Global Forest Carbon Research Initiative. He has been working with the lab since 2004. He is Panamanian and obtained his bachelors degree from the University of Panama, and previously held other technician positions at STRI including working on the 2000 census of the BCI 50-ha plot.

Paulino Villareal – Research Technician

Paulino (or Villa) is an experienced technician who has been working for the Smithsonian ForestGEO Global Forest Carbon Research Initiative since 2007. He is Panamanian and previously worked at STRI as a research aide and research technician on other projects.

Melvin Hernandez – Research Aide

Melvin is a licensed drone pilot who conducts drone flights and assists with other field data collection. He is Panamanian and graduated from high school in 2022; he is continuing his studies part-time.

Jorge Valdes – Research Technician

Jorge is a Panamanian botanist who graduated from the University of Panama. In recent years, he has conducted ecological studies of forests in the Chocó region and the dry arc of Panama’s Los Santos province, compiling, identifying, and analyzing tree and liana species. Currently, he is collaborating on collecting and taxonomically processing drone images of canopy trees and lianas for biodiversity studies.