Learn about the research happening across Colorado State University’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, meet colleagues working across disciplines, and discover new opportunities for collaboration through NREL seminars.

NREL hosts two seminar series. The Research Seminar Series is a monthly lunch and learn where labs introduce their programs and share current work. NREL Presents: Field Work Tips and Tricks runs every other week in fall 2026 and focuses on the practical knowledge behind field research. Both meet on Wednesdays from 12 to 1 p.m. Details for each are below.

NREL seminars are open to members of NREL, the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability (ESS), and friends of NREL. Sessions are offered in person, with hybrid access available.

These NREL series are separate from the ESS departmental seminar series, which ESS runs this fall in partnership with the Warner College of Natural Resources (WCNR), with dates throughout the semester. You are welcome at both. Questions about the ESS series can go to Morgan Richardson.

Want to attend? Email caroline.nickerson@colostate.edu to be added to the NREL seminar calendar invitation and receive seminar details, locations, and Microsoft Teams links.

NREL Research Seminar Series

The NREL Research Seminar Series is a monthly lunch and learn designed to help our community learn more about the research happening across NREL.

Each seminar gives NREL research groups an opportunity to introduce their programs, highlight current projects, and share the questions, methods, and ideas driving their work. The goal is simple: create more opportunities for people across NREL to learn from one another and spark new collaborations.

September 9, 2026

Remote Sensing of Ecosystem Dynamics (Vogeler Lab)

Overview: Jody Vogeler

Profile: https://www.vogelerlab.com/

Jody Vogeler is a Research Scientist and Assistant Director of Research at NREL who leads the Vogeler Research Group. She integrates remote sensing datasets such as LiDAR and Landsat time series with field surveys to characterize and forecast forest disturbance dynamics and wildlife-habitat relationships, and has led multiple NASA-funded projects.

Focal talk: Patrick Fekety, Research Associate

Profile: https://www.vogelerlab.com/lab-members.html

Patrick Fekety is a research associate in the Vogeler Lab who uses remote sensing to support natural resource management. His current work focuses on mapping forest biomass, characterizing forest disturbances, and integrating forest structure information into wildlife habitat modeling across the western U.S. He holds a Master of Forestry from Oregon State University, and his expertise includes lidar processing and machine learning modeling of forest attributes.

Focal talk: Daniel Rode, Research Associate

Profile: https://www.vogelerlab.com/lab-members.html

Daniel Rode is a research associate in the Vogeler Lab who joined in 2023 after earning a B.S. in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability from Colorado State University. He specializes in developing command-line pipelines for LiDAR and satellite imagery processing and contributes to lab projects on redcedar expansion and forest structure characterization to inform sustainable forest management across western U.S. forests.

October 7, 2026

The Newman Lab

Exploring how participatory science connects people, technology, and research to address real-world challenges. Building cyberinfrastructure platforms for public participation in scientific research. Increasing data accessibility and democratization using purpose-built LLMs. Integrating ethical AI benefits into decision support platforms. Connecting research with action through Action Research.

Overview: Greg Newman

Greg Newman

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/greg-newman-homepage/

Greg Newman is a Research Scientist at NREL and the co-founder and Director of CitSci, a global participatory science platform developed at NREL. He also serves as Coordinator of Engagement Technology for the CSU System, with research focused on cyberinfrastructure that supports participatory science programs.

Note: This NREL session is The Newman Lab. The Participatory Science Center's citizen science seminar is a separate session in the ESS series, not this one.

November 4, 2026

Overview: Stephen Ogle

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/stephen-ogle-homepage/

Stephen Ogle is a Senior Research Scientist at NREL and a professor in ESS. He leads the U.S. national greenhouse gas inventory for agricultural soils reported to the UNFCCC, is an expert on greenhouse gas inventory methods, and has served as a lead author on IPCC reports.

Two focal talks from research scientists or research associates to be confirmed.

December 9, 2026

Ecological Research and Management Group (Vorster and Evangelista)

Overview: Tony Vorster and Paul Evangelista

Tony Vorster

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/paul-evangelista-homepage/paul-evangelista-staff

Tony Vorster is a Research Scientist at NREL who uses GIS and remote sensing to study forest ecology, invasive species, and land-cover change. He is an instructor in the Western Ranch Management and Ecosystem Stewardship program and a science advisor for the NASA DEVELOP program.

Paul Evangelista

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/paul-evangelista-homepage/

Paul Evangelista is a Senior Research Scientist at NREL and Assistant Professor in ESS. He leads spatial ecology research on invasive species, species distribution modeling, and land-cover change across the western U.S. and the Horn of Africa, and co-leads the NASA DEVELOP Fort Collins node.

Two focal talks from research associates to be confirmed.

January 6, 2027

Presenting lab and speakers to be confirmed.

February 3, 2027

Presenting lab and speakers to be confirmed.

March 3, 2027

Overview: Jill Baron

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/jill-baron-homepage/

Jill Baron is a Senior Research Ecologist at NREL and a Senior Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. She studies the effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition and climate change on mountain ecosystems, founded the Loch Vale Watershed program and the USGS Powell Center, and is a past president of the Ecological Society of America.

Focal talk: Lauren Magliozzi, Postdoctoral Fellow

Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gueTANcAAAAJ&hl=en

Lauren Magliozzi is a postdoctoral fellow at CSU working with the Baron and Fischer groups through a NASA and USGS partnership. A biogeochemist, she analyzes long-term monitoring data and satellite observations to quantify how wildfire smoke affects mountain watershed chemistry and ecosystem response. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2024.

Focal talk: Luke Knaggs

Luke Knaggs presents with the Baron group, whose research centers on the Loch Vale Watershed long-term monitoring program in Rocky Mountain National Park.

April 7, 2027

Overview: Yao Zhang

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/yao-zhang-homepage

Yao Zhang is a Research Scientist and ecosystem modeler at NREL. He co-leads the MEMS model development team and has been a key contributor to the DayCent model, with research focused on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and soil greenhouse gas emissions.

Focal talk: Emma Hamilton, Research Associate and Graduate Student

Profile: https://mems.nrel.colostate.edu/people/

Emma Hamilton is a research associate contributing to programming and model development for the MEMS soil carbon model. She earned a B.S. in Data Science from Colorado State University and is now pursuing a master's degree focused on soil science and ecosystem modeling.

Focal talk: Jorge Locatelli, Postdoctoral Fellow

Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OOtCGHMAAAAJ&hl=en

Jorge Locatelli is a postdoctoral research fellow at CSU whose work spans soil organic matter, greenhouse gas emissions, and process-based modeling, with a focus on tropical cropping systems. He earned his doctorate at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

May 5, 2027

Overview: Julie Heinrichs

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/julie-heinrichs-homepage/

Julie Heinrichs is a Research Scientist at NREL and joint faculty in ESS who collaborates with the USGS in Fort Collins. She develops spatially explicit, individual-based population models to evaluate how landscape change affects wildlife species of conservation concern.

Two focal talks from postdoctoral researchers to be confirmed.

To receive calendar invitations and access information for upcoming seminars, email caroline.nickerson@colostate.edu.

What to Expect at a Research Seminar

Research seminars generally open with an overview from a lab principal investigator, followed by shorter presentations from lab members such as research associates, postdoctoral researchers, and students.

Presenters may introduce a research program, take a closer look at a particular project, share emerging findings or methods, or highlight opportunities for collaboration. Some seminar dates feature more than one NREL lab.

Bring your lunch, your questions, and your curiosity.

NREL Presents: Field Work Tips and Tricks

NREL Presents: Field Work Tips and Tricks is a seminar series focused on the practical knowledge that makes field research possible.

The series brings NREL researchers and staff together to share the methods, tools, lessons learned, and strategies developed through real field experience. Topics range from permitting and field safety to emerging GIS technology, environmental DNA, sensors, field crews, and international research logistics.

The series runs as seven sessions in fall 2026, held every other week on Wednesdays from 12 to 1 p.m., both in person and on Microsoft Teams.

Fall 2026 Field Work Series

September 16, 2026

GIS with Drones and New GIS Technology (GPS, GNSS, RTCM)

Drone-based mapping, flight planning, data collection and processing, real-world limitations, and emerging GIS software and workflows for field research.

Presenter: Nicholas Young

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/paul-evangelista-homepage/paul-evangelista-staff

Nicholas Young is a Research Associate IV and lab manager in the Evangelista Lab at NREL. His work centers on spatial ecology, with an emphasis on species distribution modeling, invasive species, and mountain systems, and he has contributed to domestic and international projects supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Science Foundation, and the USGS.

September 30, 2026

Safety in Different Ecosystems

How safety planning changes across deserts, forests, wetlands, urban sites, and extreme weather.

Presenter: Megan Podolinsky

Profile: https://sustainability.colostate.edu/humannature/

Megan Podolinsky is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at CSU, and a 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow. Her research and outreach focus on the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program and managed wetlands on private lands, including a partnership among CSU, Ducks Unlimited, and the USDA, with fieldwork across grassland and wetland systems.

October 14, 2026

eDNA in the Field (including microbiology in the field)

Environmental DNA collection, storage, contamination risks, and transport back to the lab, including sampling protocols and sterility in non-lab conditions.

Presenter: James Henriksen

Profile: https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/investigator/james-henriksen-homepage/

James Henriksen is an environmental microbiologist and bioinformatician at NREL. His work applies bioinformatic analysis of environmental microbial diversity across soil and subsurface, aquatic, engineered, and plant-host systems.

October 28, 2026

Field-Portable Sensors, Data Loggers, and Electronics in the Field

Climate, soil, and water sensors and mobile apps; deployment, maintenance, ruggedization, and costs; data syncing; and best practices for tablets, phones, and laptops in the field.

Presenter: Ajay Devda

Profile: https://warnercnr.colostate.edu/announcements/ajay-devda-india/

Ajay Devda is a Ph.D. student in the Watershed Science program in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at CSU, which he joined in 2024. His research focuses on transboundary wetland management under changing Earth system dynamics and on remote sensing-based tools and policy frameworks for managing these ecosystems.

November 18, 2026

Field Crews: Training, Hiring, and Management

Building and running field crews, including training, hiring, and day-to-day management.

Presenter: Tyler Lampard

Profile: https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/tyler-d-lampard

Tyler Lampard specializes in field-based data collection in mountain watershed environments, including snowpack and surface-water hydrology. He earned a B.S. in Watershed Science from Colorado State University and has worked on CSU field programs including the Loch Vale Watershed, along with work through the USGS Colorado Water Science Center.

Presenter: Sage Breck

December 2, 2026

International Field Work Logistics How-To

Traveling with scientific equipment, customs and documentation, shipping versus carrying gear, and what researchers wish they had known before their first international project.

Presenter to be confirmed.

These sessions are designed to be practical and participatory. Presenters walk through how a method or tool is actually used, discuss what can go wrong, share examples from real projects, and invite other NREL members to contribute their own experiences.

Interested in Presenting?

NREL researchers, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and students are encouraged to contribute to seminar programming.

Research lab PIs interested in the Research Seminar Series should contact the seminar organizers with preferred dates, information about participating lab members, and whether they are open to sharing a seminar date with another research group.

Members of the NREL community interested in the Field Work Tips and Tricks series are encouraged to propose practical methods, technologies, lessons learned, or field experiences that could benefit colleagues across the laboratory. To claim an open session, share your name, the specific method or tool you will cover, and your contact email.

For seminar questions or presentation ideas, contact caroline.nickerson@colostate.edu.