People
The researchers behind the PIE Lab.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Zoe Amie Pierrat
Assistant Professor, GeographyI am an Assistant Professor in the Geography Department at the University of California Santa Barbara. Prior to that I was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I received my Ph.D. and M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from the University of California Los Angeles and my B.A. in Physics: Environmental Emphasis and a Chemistry Minor from Colorado College.
I study plants’ role in carbon and water cycles in a changing climate. I do this with remote sensing from the leaf to the globe. I am currently building partnerships with local government agencies and nonprofits to develop remote sensing products for meeting sustainability goals.
PhD Students
Rey Chin
Ph.D. Student, GeographyRey (Audrey) Chin is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Department at UC Santa Barbara, where she is excited to research remote sensing of terrestrial ecosystems. Rey studied Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard College and has conducted fieldwork in diverse ecosystems ranging from the forests of Grand Teton National Park to the savannas of southern Mozambique. She is interested in integrating field data with remote sensing at different scales to monitor changing landscapes and inform sustainable natural resource management. During her free time, Rey enjoys backpacking, board games, live music, and novels.
Sophia Todorov
Ph.D. Student, GeographySophia Todorov is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Department at UC Santa Barbara, working in the PIE Lab. She earned her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2022. Before starting her Ph.D., she spent four years at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, working as a research technician and winter caretaker, where she conducted fieldwork in remote, high-elevation environments and lived on site during winters accessible only by a four-mile ski.
Her research interests sit at the intersection of field ecology and remote sensing, with a focus on linking ground measurements with remote sensing observations across drone, airborne, and satellite platforms. She is particularly interested in applied work related to conservation, restoration, and ecosystem responses to climate extremes such as snow drought in the western United States. Outside of research, Sophia enjoys cross-country skiing, baking bread, movie and internet culture, riding klunker bikes, and practicing amateur botany.
Alumni
Jackson Coldiron
M.S. Environmental Science & ManagementJackson Coldiron was a graduate student at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara, where he specialized in Water Resource Management. His passion lies at the intersection of climate, water, and agriculture.
Jackson’s research spans multiple continents and ecosystems. His master’s thesis, conducted in partnership with Conservation International, maped climate exposures facing indigenous peoples and local communities across Amazonia and the biodiversity within their territories. He has spent time in Zambia building capacity with local researchers and NGOs on a project to map irrigation patterns. In the PIE Lab, he integrated satellite remote sensing datasets to quantify how drought-driven irrigation affects evapotranspiration and productivity across the Continental United States.
When he’s not in front of a computer, Jackson can be found on a basketball court, in a garden, or somewhere in the mountains—this past summer he summited Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is an avid runner and skier, loves hiking in the Sierra Nevada, and has a particular fondness for oak trees.