DIRECTORS
Scott Pokswinski
Director of Fire Science Applications
Scott Pokswinski is the Director of Fire Science Applications at the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at New Mexico Consortium. He specializes in adapting cutting edge research to management applications. He managed SERDP research projects for eight years investigating fire ecology and habitat monitoring for The Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center and then the University of Nevada at Reno followed by five years managing research projects at Tall Timbers. His recent work has integrated remote sensing technologies with monitoring and modeling technologies to increase the quality and efficiency of data used by fire and land managers to make management decisions
Grant Snitker, PhD
Director of Cultural Resource Sciences
Dr. Snitker is the Director of Cultural Resource Sciences within the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. He is an environmental archaeologist, specializing in charcoal analysis, computational and analytical proxy modeling, and quantitative methods to understand the dynamic relationship between fire, humans, and long-term environmental change. He also works to improve methods and tools in cultural resource management and fire archaeology, including LiDAR data collection and analysis. He works primarily in the Western United States and the Western Mediterranean.
When not doing archaeology, he is usually hiking, fly-fishing, spending time with friends and family, or some combination of all three.
Nancy Karraker, PhD
Director of Applied Conservation
Dr. Karraker is the Director of Applied Conservation at the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at New Mexico Consortium. She is a conservation biologist whose research focuses on quantifying the effects of disturbance, including wildfire and forest management, on wildlife populations. Nancy is particularly interested in understanding how disturbance alters the occurrence and population trajectories of vulnerable species and how habitat management, including prescribed burning and restoration, can be applied to stabilize or reverse trends in declining populations. She has conducted research in North and Central America, South Africa, and East and Southeast Asia, but current projects are centered primarily in the U.S. Southwest.
Nancy enjoys any outdoor activity, especially if reptiles and amphibians may be encountered.
CURRENT MEMBERS
Alexis Fetterhoff
Archaeological Technician
Alex is an Archaeological Technician within NMC’s Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science and an upcoming graduate student at the University of New Mexico. She is an archaeologist with experience in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. Her roles in MNC include implementing GIS to analyze archaeological features and aids in the analysis of aerial and terrestrial LiDAR data collections. Her passions include using digital methods and field work to aid public land management agencies in developing better fire management methods.
When Alex isn’t working, she enjoys reading, spending time with her pets, and playing video games with her friends.
Claudine Gravel-Miguel, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Gravel-Miguel is a Research Scientist for the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. She is a quantitative archaeologist specializing in computational modeling, geospatial analyses and statistical analyses of archaeological data. Her previous work has focused primarily on European prehistoric archaeology, where she learned skills that can now be applied to North American archaeological data. At NMC, she helps create and improve methods to process LiDAR data.
When she is not working, Claudine enjoys crafting, hiking with her family, friends and dog Leena, and doing escape rooms.
Jonathan Paige, PhD
Research Scientist
Dr. Paige is a Research Scientist in the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. He studies the evolution of technologies, the role they play in human evolution, and how groups culturally adapt to new and challenging environments. More generally, he is invested in theoretically informed and computational approaches to analyzing large archaeological datasets, and building the research infrastructure to make such studies possible. He has worked on archaeological projects in the Levant, Oceania, and the Americas, and worked in cultural resource management in Central Texas and Arizona. He now applies that background to his work at NMC on the North American archaeological record.
For fun, Jon swims, hikes in Ohio with his family, and races outrigger canoes when he can.
Anthony Marcozzi
Fire Science Applications
Anthony is a fire scientist and software developer based in Missoula, MT. He works on the FastFuels data platform, developing tools to support next-generation fire modeling for prescribed fire planning and assessment. His passion for fire began while working as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. He continues to actively participate in prescribed fire operations in western Montana with the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, bridging the gap between research and practical application.
When not immersed in the world of fire science, Anthony can be found running, skiing, and biking with his two huskies, and playing bluegrass banjo.
Miguel Martinez
LiDAR Technician
Miguel is a LiDAR Technician and graduate student research assistant tasked with processing LiDAR point clouds to support archaeological inventories and model development. He is expanding his interests and experience in small UAV survey and its applications in Landscape Archaeology with a focus in settlement pattern theory through the Master of Science in Geography program at UNM.
When Miguel isn’t literally looking through things, he finds himself binge watching full seasons of Gray’s Anatomy.
Alex Masarie, PhD
Fire Science Applications
Science at NMC. He is a mathematical physicist who specializes in Forest Sciences with focus on fire modeling and state-and-transition forest management. He has held post-doc fellow positions as a programmer at Rocky Mountain Research Station (fire suppression focused) and Tall Timbers (prescribed fire focus). A recent transplant to New Mexico, “Dr. Alex” spent the prior 2 years honing GIS 101 curriculum at Front Range Community College in Colorado, which he hopes to someday translate/interpret into a Spanish-language curriculum.
Katherine Peck
Junior Research Scientist
Katherine Peck, is a Junior Research Scientist in NMC’s Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science and a PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico. She is an archaeologist who specializes in geospatial analysis and geoarchaeology and has worked primarily in Hawaii and the U.S. Southwest. She is also passionate about developing efficient digital methods for collecting, processing, and analyzing archaeological field data. Outside of work, Katherine enjoys birdwatching, hiking, and printmaking.
Leigh Ann Scholtz
Science Communicator/Project Coordinator
Leigh Ann Scholtz is the Science Communicator/Project Coordinator for NMC’s Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science. She coordinates external communications for CAFES and serves as project coordinator for select projects. Leigh Ann has a deep interest in ecological research having earned her master’s and has three years of doctoral research experience in forest and plant physiological ecology. Since graduate school, she has been a middle school science teacher, environmental science professor, and STEM education program coordinator at a museum in northern Delaware. Outside of work, Leigh Ann enjoys art, video games, reading, and spending time outdoors with her husband and son.
Matt Snider
Fire Science Applications
Matt is a Research Scientist for the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. He is a wildland fire operations professional with over thirty years experience working in leadership roles for federal and state agencies and non-governmental organizations. Matt’s experience includes serving as the State Fire Management Officer for the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands and as the State Fire Program Manager for the Georgia and Alabama chapters of The Nature Conservancy. Matt’s work currently involves applying next generation fire models to prescribed fire planning, decision making, and training. Matt lives in Southwest Georgia with his wife Mollie and their 105 pound English Foxhound, Bleu.
Natasha M. Torres Ríos
Fire Science Applications
Natasha is a Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. She specializes in natural resources management using remote sensing and modeling technologies for long-term monitoring. Her previous experiences focused on long-term ecological monitoring across various novel forests and at El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. At NMC she focuses on developing machine-learning methods to predict monitoring metrics from terrestrial LiDAR data. Her work also expands to an interdisciplinary approach using terrestrial LiDAR for wildlife monitoring. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, baking, and playing video games.
Niko Tutland
Fire Science Applications
Niko Tutland is a Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Fire and Ecosystem Science at NMC. He is a forest ecologist who specializes in vegetation community changes in response to disturbance and management. His previous work has ranged from studying broad-scale effects of bark beetle outbreaks, to developing quantitative tools for prescribed fire research. Niko’s work at NMC focuses on using fire behavior modeling to aid prescribed fire application and investigate the interactions between fire behavior and vegetation structure. When not researching trees, he is usually among them on a trail run or a bike ride.
Lucas Wells, PhD
Fire Science Applications
Lucas is a forester and a software developer, holding a BS in Forestry from the University of Kentucky, an MS in Forestry from the University of Montana, and a PhD in Sustainable Forest Management from Oregon State University. His academic and professional journey has covered various research topics, including mathematical optimization, computer vision, silviculture, fire modeling, forest growth, forest inventory, and remote sensing. Beyond his extensive work, Lucas is deeply rooted in rural Western Montana, where he lives on a family forest with his spouse and two children, embodying the connection between his life’s work and personal commitment to community and the environment.
ALUMNI
Marlee Lazarus
Archaeological Technician
Marlee is an Archaeological Technician researching the potential effects of fire damage on archaeological sites, artifacts and debris based on the results of various controlled combinations of native West-coast conifers and manzanita fuel loads. He is a member of the Albuquerque branch of the New Mexico Consortium and a recent alumnus from the University of New Mexico.
The New Mexico Consortium (NMC) is a non-profit corporation formed by three New Mexico universities in order to facilitate research in the state of New Mexico, and specifically to increase research collaborations between universities, industry and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).