My teaching interests include plant biology, plant physiology, ecology, remote sensing, and biological aspects of global change At Cal State LA, I teach (or have taught) Biology 102 (Principles of Biology II), Biology 360 (General Ecology), Biology 430 (Plant Physiology I), Biology 499 (Undergraduate Directed Study), and Biology 538 (Environmental Physiology) Additionally, I am developing a new course entitled "Methods & Instrumentation in Environmental Science." In its first offering in the spring of 1996, this course focused on fire ecology and methods of sampling vegetation, including traditional field sampling methods, and newer methods (e.g. remote sensing and image processing). With other faculty in other departments, I am developing a new, interdisciplinary General Education Theme entitled "Global Change," that will include a course covering the biological aspects of global change.

Background: My background is in plant ecophysiology, ecology, plant physiology, botany, and remote sensing. Primary Research Area: As an ecophysiologist, I study the effects of environmental factors on plant physiology, structure, and productivity. A primary focus of this work is on factors controlling photosynthetic physiology. In recent years, I have been applying new optical approaches (involving remote sensing, spectrometry and image analysis) to evaluating plant productivity and physiological performance. These optical methods offer the advantages of being non-invasive and applicable to many scales, from the leaf to the landscape. Recent research in my lab group has demonstrated that the "photochemical reflectance index" (PRI), derived from narrow-band reflectance at 531 and 570 nm, tracks the activity of the xanthophyll cycle pigments, and can be used as an index of photosythetic light-use efficiency for many species. Light use efficiency varies between species, and is reduced by many environmental stresses. This optical index offers the possibility of deriving photosynthetic fluxes remotely using passive spectral reflectance. Additional Projects: My lab group has been examining the impacts of air pollution (primarily ozone) on plant growth and physiology. In collaboration with scientists at other institutions, we have been using remote sensing to study vegetation and fire ecology in the Santa Monica Mountains. Additional collaborative projects have taken us to the boreal forest of Canada, tropical forests in Panama, and forests in the Pacific Northwest, where we have been applying optical methods of assessing forest function..

Ph.D. Botany 1989
U.C. Davis
Davis, CA
 

M.S. Botany 1986
U.C. Davis
Davis, CA
 

B.S. Biology 1979
Yale University
New Haven, CT