Dr. Kevin McGarigal
Kevin is an applied research landscape ecologist, having earned a BS degree in Forestry and Wildlife from Virginia Tech, an MS degree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University, and a PhD in Forest Science from Oregon State University. He was a professor of landscape ecology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst from 1997 until 2019. Kevin’s applied research focuses on understanding how landscapes are structured physically and biologically and the agents responsible for those patterns, how these patterns affect the distribution and dynamics of plant and animal populations, how these patterns and processes change over time, and how to apply this information to better manage natural resources over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Accordingly, a major component of his work has been the development and technical support of software tools for both scientists and managers for quantifying landscape patterns and landscape dynamics (e.g., FRAGSTATS).
Eduard Ene MSc.
Eduard is a software developer who earned a Master’s degree in Spatial Data Analysis from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, and an Engineering degree from “Universitatea Dunarea de Jos” in Galati, Romania. He is passionate about developing spatial data analysis and simulation software and his favorite language is C++ but has been caught on occasions speaking C, Python, Ruby, and Lua. He worked on large scale mapping projects, and has implemented software for landscape simulation and analysis for conservation prioritization. In 1999 he took over the development of Fragstats, a little Unix command line application looking to cross into the Windows world, and over the years re-implemented the code several times, arriving at the Fragstats we all know today.
Dr. Sam Cushman
Sam is a research landscape ecologist who earned a BS degree in Ecology from The Evergreen State College, an MS degree in Terrestrial Ecology from Western Washington University, and a PhD in Landscape Ecology from the University of Massachusetts. He was a Research Landscape Ecologist for the United States Forest Service from 2003 to 2023. Sam’s research focuses a range of topics including species distribution modeling, connectivity analysis, population dynamics, landscape genetics, and applying this information to optimize conservation and management scenarios. A large component of his work has been the development and technical support of software tools for ecological analysis (e.g., FRAGSTATS, CDPOP, UNICOR, PATHWALKER).