Mapping Inaccessible Areas

—  winter 2015  —
I partnered with an organization in Armenia interested in more exact measurements within inaccessible rooms in a monastery complex. We employed low mount LiDAR and took scans from holes in the ceiling as well as from a small nook the Eastern wall. The excavated rooms cut off from the remaining structures can now be examined and studied digitally for further research. The results can be seen to the left.

—  Partners  —
TUMO, CyArk

Mapping the Indicators of Ancient Tsunami

—  winter 2015  —
As part of a National Geographic Young Explorer Grant I worked with marine geologist/archaeologist Beverly Goodman to identify and document key features for understanding tsunami magnitude from the second and third century. I used underwater LiDAR provided by 2GRobotics to get an accurate measurement of the holes left by the original tsunami. All underwater data was then stitched to a combination of terrestrial and aerial LiDAR data from the landed structures.

—  Partners  —
National Geographic Society, 2G Robotics, University of Haifa

Feeling the Weight of History

—  fall 2014  —
I partnered on a project with UPenn to ascertain the weight of a sphinx located in Abydos, a necropolis north of Luxor. For this I created a 3D mesh from terrestrial LiDAR data, providing me with an accurate volume. Comparing the volume with the average kilogram of a square meter of the sediment type we were able to weigh the sphinx at a whopping 12.6 tons!

—  Partners  —
University of Pennsylvania

Reconstructing the Original Street Level

—  summer 2015  —
In Masjid Wazir Khans 400 year history, the surrounding area has had innumerable changes. One of the more discrete changes also happens to be having one of the largest effects. Since it's construction in 1641, the surrounding roadway has risen over 2 meters from it's original level. Scanning one of the excavated sections allows us to extrapolate how the original mosque would have looked and gives new insight into current water runoff and damage issues.

—  Partners  —
USAid, Lahore University of Management Sciences, CyArk

Emergency Structural Assessment

—  fall 2016  —
In the fall of 2016 a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar and damaged over 400 of the nearly 3000 temples of the Bagan Valley. Comparing against previously collected 3D data, I was able to quantify the damage to individual temples and guide local emergency conservation teams. During the two weeks on the ground, I documented over fifteen sites and created a baseline for future conservators to work from.

—  Partners  —
National Geographic Society, UNESCO, Bagan Department, Archaeology, CyArk

Changing the Paradigm of Reproductions

—  summer 2013  —
In many of the top museums in the world reproductions are still created with plaster molds. These molds can damage and erode the reliefs they are meant to be preserving. In 2015 we worked with the British Museum to change the way in which mold were created, utilizing non-invasive structured light scanning, terrestrial LiDAR, and Photogrammetry.

—  Partners  —
The British Museum, Kacyra Family Foundation, CyArk

Opening Site Access to the World

—  fall 2016  —
In 2016 I began testing methods for sharing the large archive of sites CyArk has collected over the 12 years of its existence. With the recent developments in virtual reality technology we were able to produce 3D environments for a world audience to enjoy. On a project in Bagan, Myanmar we were even able to show some of the local young monks our site at Mount Rushmore, Lukang Longshan Temple, and The Temple of Naxos!

—  Partners  —
CyArk

Reconstructing the Past

—  winter 2017  —
In the December of 2017 I embarked on a mission with Factum Foundation to document supposed dinosaur footprints in Baluchistan, a western boarder state of Pakistan. Heavy conflict in the region prohibited experts from visiting and analyzing the prints, but if you can’t bring the experts to the mountain, bring the mountain to them! I documented the site over two days with photogrammetry which created a model with a resolution of 200 microns. At this resolution the targeted region could be reproduced and analyzed in Madrid, nearly 5000 miles away. Construction from the Chinese belt and road initiative have now demolished the original site and the 3D models are all that remains of what could be evidence of the second largest terrestrial dinosaur ever recorded.

—  Partners  —
Factum Foundation, ICONEM, Islamabad Paleontology Museum

Vegetation Bridges Research Project

—  spring 2019  —
In the spring of 2019 I captured data with researchers from the University of California to understand how connective biomass effects plant community and insect populations in urban farms. For this project I quantified the total biomass cover removed and added in the designated areas of each urban farm.

—  Partners  —
University of California, Santa Cruz

Algae Eutrophication Mitigation

—  fall 2019  —
Site managers at the Elkhorn Slough National Research Reserve wanted to understand the fluctuations in algae cover in one of the nursery habitats of the preserve. They had captured drone data of the site monthly for nearly seven years and wanted to understand what factors were driving excess growth. I worked with computer vision and decorrelation techniques to automate the identification and quantification of total cover. We’re now expanding this project to encompass more data and provide data to support their active mitigation strategy.

—  Partners  —
National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Elkhorn Slough Foundation

Algae Identification and Delineation

—  summer 2019 & 2020  —
To help inform Dr. Mary Power and other researchers working at Angelo Coast Range Reserve I completed algae identification, quantification, and analysis at 3 sites across the reserve. I worked to analyze drone imagery captured by myself and two colleagues over two periods over the summer of 2019 and 2020. The range of dates provide insight into the rate of conversion from Epithemia to Phormidium. The results will help inform research on positive and negative impacts of algae to the health species sharing of river watershed habitat. The images below show the three sites we worked at along the river.

—  Partners  —
University of California Research Reserve System, UC Berkeley