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Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award

Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award

Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award
The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team — From left, Henry Glick, Charlie Bettigole, Chad Oliver, Devin Routh, Ambika Khadka (in glasses) and Lindsi Seegmiller (Ucross Photo — click to enlarge)
The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team — From left, Henry Glick, Charlie Bettigole, Chad Oliver, Devin Routh, Ambika Khadka (in glasses) and Lindsi Seegmiller (Ucross Photo — click to enlarge)

– January 29, 2014

[Press Release]  – The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative research team (UHPSI), directed by Yale University’s Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies Chadwick Oliver, has recently received a “Google Earth Engine Research Award”. The award has been granted in support of UHPSI’s ongoing land-cover studies undertaken in close partnership with the Ucross Foundation on its ranch near Clearmont, WY.  The initiative was set in motion by Ucross Founder Raymond Plank, an alumnus of Yale, and is part of the Foundation’s ongoing land stewardship work.  UHPSI is staffed by a team of graduate students and research scientists connected to Yale University who spent extended time at the Ucross ranch in the summer of 2013.

This award will provide the team the opportunity to make advanced methods for rapid land-cover detection and assessment available to the public through the use of freely available satellite data. Specifically, the team will work to integrate various statistical methods into Google’s new Earth Engine platform as pre-set tools that will allow users to evaluate vegetation or land-cover types of interest for any portion of the globe. The research will incorporate contemporary methods for remote sensing, coding, and multivariate statistic analysis, and the team plans on releasing their work at the end of the 2014 calendar year. These pre-set tools will be available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection and a Google account.

While working in Wyoming in 2013, the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team also made important connections with faculty from the University of Wyoming, Sheridan College, the University of New Mexico, Colorado State University, and Kansas State University. Another element of their work at the Ucross ranch included the set-up of acoustic monitoring stations to collect data on the distribution of bird life, an important indicator of landscape health.

In Wyoming, the UHPSI team is based at the Ucross Foundation’s new Raymond Plank Creative Center, located at the Park at Ucross near the intersection of Highways 14 and 16.  The team will return to Wyoming in May 2014 to spend another summer at the Ucross Foundation’s ranch. Visitors are welcome to stop by the Center to meet the team and learn more about their work. For further information on UHPSI, or to find contact information, please visit http://www.highplainsstewardship.org.

Ucross Foundation, located on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 by Raymond Plank. The Foundation operates an internationally known artist-in-residence program that has supported nearly 2,000 writers, visual artists, composers and choreographers with the gift of uninterrupted time and studio space. Approximately 90 individuals each year come to Ucross from throughout the United States and the world to focus on creative work.  Alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Annie Proulx and Doug Wright, Tony Award-winning composer Adam Guettel, and writers Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett and Karen Russell. For more information about Ucross Foundation, visit www.ucrossfoundation.org

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Posted inThe Pitch, Uncategorized

Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award

Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award

Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative Wins Google Research Award
The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team — From left, Henry Glick, Charlie Bettigole, Chad Oliver, Devin Routh, Ambika Khadka (in glasses) and Lindsi Seegmiller (Ucross Photo — click to enlarge)
The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team — From left, Henry Glick, Charlie Bettigole, Chad Oliver, Devin Routh, Ambika Khadka (in glasses) and Lindsi Seegmiller (Ucross Photo — click to enlarge)

– January 29, 2014

[Press Release]  – The Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative research team (UHPSI), directed by Yale University’s Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies Chadwick Oliver, has recently received a “Google Earth Engine Research Award”. The award has been granted in support of UHPSI’s ongoing land-cover studies undertaken in close partnership with the Ucross Foundation on its ranch near Clearmont, WY.  The initiative was set in motion by Ucross Founder Raymond Plank, an alumnus of Yale, and is part of the Foundation’s ongoing land stewardship work.  UHPSI is staffed by a team of graduate students and research scientists connected to Yale University who spent extended time at the Ucross ranch in the summer of 2013.

This award will provide the team the opportunity to make advanced methods for rapid land-cover detection and assessment available to the public through the use of freely available satellite data. Specifically, the team will work to integrate various statistical methods into Google’s new Earth Engine platform as pre-set tools that will allow users to evaluate vegetation or land-cover types of interest for any portion of the globe. The research will incorporate contemporary methods for remote sensing, coding, and multivariate statistic analysis, and the team plans on releasing their work at the end of the 2014 calendar year. These pre-set tools will be available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection and a Google account.

While working in Wyoming in 2013, the Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative team also made important connections with faculty from the University of Wyoming, Sheridan College, the University of New Mexico, Colorado State University, and Kansas State University. Another element of their work at the Ucross ranch included the set-up of acoustic monitoring stations to collect data on the distribution of bird life, an important indicator of landscape health.

In Wyoming, the UHPSI team is based at the Ucross Foundation’s new Raymond Plank Creative Center, located at the Park at Ucross near the intersection of Highways 14 and 16.  The team will return to Wyoming in May 2014 to spend another summer at the Ucross Foundation’s ranch. Visitors are welcome to stop by the Center to meet the team and learn more about their work. For further information on UHPSI, or to find contact information, please visit http://www.highplainsstewardship.org.

Ucross Foundation, located on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 by Raymond Plank. The Foundation operates an internationally known artist-in-residence program that has supported nearly 2,000 writers, visual artists, composers and choreographers with the gift of uninterrupted time and studio space. Approximately 90 individuals each year come to Ucross from throughout the United States and the world to focus on creative work.  Alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Annie Proulx and Doug Wright, Tony Award-winning composer Adam Guettel, and writers Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett and Karen Russell. For more information about Ucross Foundation, visit www.ucrossfoundation.org

Leave a comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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