Shawn Carlisle Kefauver

I was born in the mountains of Washington State in the United States and grew up in San Antonio, Texas, where my family had always lived. I graduated with a degree in Biology and Spanish from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee (1997-2001). In 2001, I had the opportunity to work for the University of California, Davis and NASA on a project in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. My work consisted of both research and translation into Spanish, and it was my first experience in the field of environmental remote sensing. There, I was offered a position as a technician at the Centre for Space-based Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS) at the University of California, Davis. Two years later, I completed first a master’s degree (2004-2007) and then a PhD (2008-2012) in Ecology at the same university. My thesis focused on the use of remote sensing as a tool for monitoring forest health. During my postgraduate studies, I received several scholarships: twice the California Space Scholarship, a Fulbright Scholarship, with which I did my first research stay in Barcelona, and a NASA scholarship for Earth and space science studies. For three summers (2009-2011), I worked as an instructor in NASA’s Student Aerial Research Programme (SARP). In early 2010, I moved to Catalonia to complete my PhD and continue my research in ecology and remote sensing, thanks to the NASA scholarship. My research focuses on the scientific applications of drones, environmental remote sensing, geographic information systems, plant ecophysiology, climate change and air pollution, with projects in Spain, the United States, Chile and several African countries. I currently hold a Ramon y Cajal position at the University of Barcelona, in the Plant Physiology Unit, focusing on the use of remote sensing imaging technologies to advance knowledge in order to improve global food security and environmental sustainability.