Team
Tushar Sethi, MSc, DIC | Director, Spatial Ecology | Managing Director, Margosa Environmental Solutions Ltd. Publications
Tushar is the head of operations at Spatial-Ecology. He has an environmental engineering and management background, and is responsible for the company’s strategic agenda, communications and development.
Tushar has extensive experience as an environmental consultant in the waste and water management sectors. He focuses on geoinformatics solutions for environmental applications, and through the course of his environmental career, has specialised in water management, waste treatment and materials recovery, and energy from waste and other renewable sources. He has provided techno-economic analyses of environmental and alternative energy infrastructure projects and expert insights for clients including investment managers, and government and private sector institutions across Asia, Europe and the US.
Tushar is also a Director of Margosa Environmental Solutions Ltd, a UK-based geoinformatics firm that delivers natural resource data, analytics, and mapping solutions. Prior to environmental services, Tushar worked for several years in the finance industry in liability risk management and capital markets. His client portfolio included energy and infrastructure companies, government agencies and financial institutions in Europe.
Tushar holds an MSc, DIC in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. In addition, he has an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Emory University. His favourite pastimes are tennis, photography and fishing.
Giuseppe Amatulli, PhD | Geo-data Scientist, Spatial Ecology | Publications
Giuseppe is the lead scientist at Spatial-Ecology for data analysis and product development. He is an accredited GIS data expert with deep expertise in spatial modelling and coding with open source software for environmental applications. His current focus is on hydrological modelling at a global scale, in addition to researching species distribution under climate change scenarios.
Giuseppe has a breadth of experience in GIS technologies, remote sensing, informatics, cluster and parallel computing, and statistics. He is proficient in applying complex modelling techniques to automate the analysis of high-resolution data under Linux-based platforms.
Giuseppe holds a research scientist position at Yale University in the US, and has previously worked at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, and the University of Zaragoza. His coverage of the forestry and environmental sectors entails wildfire occurrence risk and pattern recognition, ecological shifts under climate geo-engineering scenarios. Notably, he runs geocomputation training courses worldwide on the latest data programming techniques.
Giuseppe has a PhD from the University of Basilicata in Italy, an MSc in Geo-Information Science from Wageningen University, and MSc in Forestry from Bari University. His time away from coding is spent leading adventure trips in remote locations, which involve canyoning, caving, rafting and hiking.
Longzhu Shen, PhD | Scientific Advisor, Spatial Ecology; University of Cambridge, UK | Skills | Publications
L
ongzhu is a mathematical modeller with a specialisation in quantum mechanics and statistical learning algorithms. At Spatial Ecology, he is leading the development of water chemistry analytics by integrating water quality assessment into a global hydrological model using machine learning techniques.
Longzhu’s breadth of experience ranges from spatial modelling for charting nutrient distribution in freshwater to the development of algorithms to engineer chemicals with a lower toxicity potential. He is proficient in electronic structure calculations, chemical reaction mechanism investigations, and multiscale modeling for complex biological systems.
Longzhu also holds a research scientist position at Cambridge University in the UK, where he is developing mathematical models to predict the molecular evolution of prominent viruses, which can be used to advance vaccine design.
Longzhu has a PhD in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University, and did his post-doctoral research in toxicology and molecular design at Yale University. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, skateboarding and travelling.
Antonio Fonseca, MSc | Machine Learning trainer, Spatial Ecology; Yale University, USA | Publications
Antonio is a machine learning researcher working at the intersection between Computational Neuroscience and Deep Learning. He is currently interested in using Deep Learning to model brain dynamics and what it can tell us about cognition and behavior.
Antonio’s expertise includes robotics (software and hardware development), signal processing, computational vision, behavioral neuroscience and deep learning algorithms. More specifically, he is an expert in applying and developing machine learning frameworks to complex problems.
Antonio worked on software development for mining robots and solutions for banking companies. Most recently, he worked on applying machine learning and signal processing techniques to investigate behavior in developing animals, which has important implications for studies involving genetic disorders and how to treat them.
Antonio is a Neuroscience Ph.D student at Yale University, obtained a bachelor’s degree in robotics engineering and a master’s in microelectronics. When he is not thinking about biological or artificial neuronal networks, Antonio enjoys rock climbing and hiking (most often doing both on the same trip).
Alexandria Smith, MSPH | Big data management and analytics
Alexandria is a research programmer, as well as a clinician. She has experience in applied research using large health records to answer pressing public health questions. At Spatial Ecology she advises on big data management, statistical analysis and public health applications.
Alexandria is skilled in the use of statistical and data management software such as R and SQL, and in manipulation techniques for complex health and demographic data. She previously worked at the Rand Corporation as a research programmer, where she conducted quantitative analysis on numerous health policy studies. She is currently working in clinical practice as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse in the US, and is also a researcher analysing Electronic Health Records in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
Alexandria holds an MSPH in Health Policy Research from Emory University, and an MSN from Yale University where she is also pursuing a PhD in public health and nursing. She is an avid road biker, and enjoys hiking and taking piano lessons in her spare time.
Jacob Bukoski, MS, PhD candidate | GIS web developer | Publications
Jacob is an ecologist and web developer with data visualisation skills honed as a research scientist in environmental conservation, climate change and land use change.
Jacob brings to Spatial Ecology team diverse research and commercial project experience, which includes spatial ecology and biodiversity surveys for snake conservation, energy efficiency and sustainable building design for FIFA World Cup Futsal stadium in Bangkok, and mangrove conservation from a carbon forestry perspective in Southern Thailand.
Jacob worked with a large number of academic, governmental, and non-profit organizations. He is affiliated as a research scientist with the Spatial Informatics Group (web-map development), as a consultant for EarthRise Media – a company tasked with supporting investigative journalism through access to high-impact satellite imagery, and as a consultant for IUCN’s Mangroves for the Future program.
Jacob is earning a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds an MS in Environmental Science from Yale University, as well as a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. When he’s not working, you can find him on a soccer pitch, hiking, or playing music.
Collaborators
Dr. Francesco P. Lovergine | CNR – ISSIA Institute of Intelligent Systems for Automation, Bari Italy | Founder of DebianGis project
Dr. Daniel McInerney, Ph.D. | Coillte Teoranta – The Irish State Forestry Board | Publications
Dr. Sami Domisch | Postdoctoral fellow at Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Department of Ecosystem Research, Berlin, Germany | Publications
Dr. Pieter Kempeneers | Scientist at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Linkedin | Publications
Dr. Cristiano Giovando |TerraPan Labs; Open Aerial Map – Humanitarian OpenStreetMap.
Dr. Salvatore Manfreda | Associate Professor of Water Management and Ecohydrology. Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Italy | Director of HydroLab
Raffaele Albano, PhD | Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Italy | Publications
Prof. Peter Bauman | Professor of Computer Science, Director of the L-SIS group at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany; Founder and CEO of rasdaman
Dr. Andrew Cowley | Computing Development Officer at the Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK
Darren J. Doherty | Originator of the Regrarians Platform, Victoria, Australia.
Alex Dumitru | PhD candidate at L-SIS group (Large-Scale Scientific Information Systems Research Group), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
Oliver Hatfield | 3D design maker; Founder of oh-design specialising in exhibition, retail and product design
Dr. Marcin Jakubowski | Fusion physicist; Founder and Executive Director of Open Source Ecology
Dr. Marta A. Jarzyna | Postdoctoral researcher at Yale Jetz Lab: Global Biodiversity, Ecology & Conservation | Publications
Vlad Merticariu | PhD candidate at L-SIS group (Large-Scale Scientific Information Systems Research Group), Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
Dr. Alba N. Mininni | DiCEM – Univ. degli Studi della Basilicata, Italy | Publications
Andy Smith | Technologist and web developer at Centre for Smart Design; co-founder of video production company Joint Effort Studios | Linkedin
Dr. Adam M. Wilson | Director of Wilson Lab; Assistant professor of global environmental change in the Geography Dept. at the Univ. of Buffalo | Publications
Dr. Annemarie Bastrup-Birk | European Environment Agency – Forests & Environment | Publications