EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy Student, Department of Geography and Sustainability, concentration in quantitative methods, small area estimation, and forestry applications. Advancing to candidacy Fall 2023, Expected Graduation May 2025. University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Nagle

Master of Science, Environmental Science and Policy, concentration in Environmental Management, 2018. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Bachelor of Arts, Environmental Sciences, minor in Chemistry, 2013. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

  • Environmental Science: Geology, Physical Hydrology, Ecology, Oceanography, Atmosphere + Weather, Natural Hazards, Marine Ecology, Intro to Computer Science (Java)
  • Chemistry: General, Organic I + II, Thermodynamics & Kinetics, Physical I + II (includes Mathcad, Matlab), Analytical, Solutions, completion of honors chemistry sequence. 36 credits in Chemistry Department.

MEMBERSHIPS

  • American Association of Geographers (AAG), Graduate Student Member, 2023 – Present
  • Graduate Association of Research Geographers at The University of Tennessee (GEOGRADS), Member and Peer Mentor, 2021 – Present

AWARDS

  • Outstanding Student Presentation Award, Joint Conference of Southern and Northeastern Mensurationists (SOMENS/NEMO), October 08-10 2023, Knoxville TN
  • Primary Lead Publication Award, University of Tennessee Department of Geography and Sustainability, 2022

EMPLOYMENT

Graduate Research Assistant, August 2022 – Present, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Department of Geography and Sustainability. Perform research on applied small area estimation techniques to US forests under direction of Dr Nicholas Nagle through a cooperative agreement with the US Forest Service (22CR11330145072).

Graduate Teaching Assistant, August 2021 – July 2022, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Department of Geography and Sustainability. GTA for GEOG 131/137: Weather, Climate, and Climate Change; GEOG 311: Geovisualization and Geographic Information Science. Instructed students in two lab sections, held office hours, assisted with assignments, and graded course assignments and exams.

GIS Specialist V, Akima Systems Engineering, April 2021 – August 2021, and GIS Specialist IV, Natural Systems Analysts, August 2020 – March 2021, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Reston VA

  • Created and validated carbon density model for CONUS wetlands. Research published as Uhran et al., 2021a. Data set published on USGS sciencebase as Uhran et al., 2022.
  • Led a team of scientists to develop a chapter on wetland carbon conditions for an AGU Books monograph on wetlands. Chapter focuses on land use/land use change, fire management, and other wetland management topics (Uhran et al, 2021b).
  • Contributed soil organic carbon stock data to the Wetland Carbon Working Group for use in the Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator (LUCAS) model.

Land Change Science Program Independent Contractor (Students & Recent Graduates), August 2018 – August 2020, United States Geological Survey (USGS), Reston VA.

  • Co-organized Alaska Wetland Soil Moisture Mapping and Validation Workshop in Fairbanks, AK, 2019, and published a summary in Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) newsletter. Workshop included two days of research presentations and three days of field visits to remote wetland sites in the Alaskan interior.
  • Collected and catalogued figure and dataset metadata for the Second State of the Carbon Cycle (SOCCR2) interagency report (https://carbon2018.globalchange.gov/) as a member of the SOCCR2 Website 1.0 developer team.
  • Authored white papers and preformed data analysis for USGS LandCarbon program on topics related to fire management, fire ecology, the carbon cycle, and coastal processes. Provided data analysis and visualization (R, Python, ArcMap) as a member of the USGS Wetland Carbon Working Group.
  • Began research project which lead to the publication of a research paper (Uhran et al., 2021a), a monograph chapter (Uhran et al, 2021b) and a data set (Uhran et al., 2022). Project was presented orally at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference, December 2019.

Energy Policy Intern, Summer 2018, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Reston, VA

  • Produced policy analysis identifying challenges for adoption of electric vehicles and key energy policies at the state and national level for consideration in 2018 Virginia Energy Plan.

Planetary Protection Intern, March 2017- March 2018. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through a grant with the SETI Institute, Washington, DC

  • First author on a paper (Uhran et al., 2019) detailing international planetary protection policies and requirements for a Mars sample return mission as they have developed from the Apollo era to the present, outlining a potential timeline for a Mars sample return mission, and describing facility requirements for sample investigation. Funded through NASA grant to the SETI Institute.