Willem J.D. van Leeuwen

Assistant Professor, Geography & Regional Development & Arid Lands Studies

Ph.D., 1995, Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona.
M.Sc., 1988, Soil Science and Remote Sensing, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Netherlands.
B.Sc., 1986, Soil Science, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Netherlands.

Phone: (520) 626-0058
FAX: (520) 621-2889
E-mail: leeuw@ag.arizona.edu

410 Harvill Building, Box #2
Tucson, AZ 85721
USA

Curriculum Vitae

Research

The most exciting research projects I am pursuing are multi-disciplinary in nature. My main research interests lie in understanding soil and vegetation ecosystem dynamics and how they respond to climate and human interactions. These interests center on the diverse ecosystems of the Western U.S. My research efforts seek an improved understanding of long term landscape-scale dynamics in forest and rangeland ecosystems, concentrating especially on ecosystem health and sustainability.

In the southwestern United States, drought, wildfire and monsoon rainfall events can have a devastating impact on the sustainable use of natural resources. As such, understanding ecosystems responses to and the effects of wildfire, water erosion and management activities are foci of my research interests. In addition to applying remote sensing and GIS techniques to problems of sustainable land use and land degradation, a long-term goal of mine is to develop new drought and ecosystem monitoring products based on the integration of climate data and remotely sensed land surface temperature and biophysical data.

Current research projects revolve around Decision Support Systems and the integration of remotely sensed products in Geographic Information Systems in order to monitor natural resources, vegetation dynamics, post-wildfire effects, and land degradation through time and across landscapes. I'm currently also participating in projects that examine how mesquite encroachment and different management treatments affects soil carbon and nutrients, and have plans to use 3-D LIDAR technology to better understand these carbon dynamics.

Project Involvement

• RangeView: Geospatial Tools for Natural Resource Management
• Remotely Sensed Vegetation Phenology
• Dryland Vegetation Dynamics and Landscape Vulnerability to Wildfire
• Assimilation of NASA Science Results and Data into National Decision Support Systems
• Establishing a Basis for Carbon Management Policy at the State Level: Carbon Dynamics at Site, Landscape, and Regional Scales for Arizona State Lands
• Remote Sensing of Land Status on the A-7 Ranch in Support of Water Protection
• A Hyperspectral Imaging Systems for Identifying Nematode Infestations in ArizonaÕs Specialty Crops