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USD 125 /hr

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☆☆☆☆☆

Hire Dr. Dion K.

United States

USD 125 /hr

PhD in Urban Ecology; Remote Sensing & GIS Consultant | Landsat/Sentinel Time Series, GEE, NDVI/LST, Urban Heat Risk

Profile Summary

Do you trust the satellite data behind your decisions? I’m a PhD remote sensing/GIS scientist (~10 years GIS) who builds and audits Landsat/Sentinel workflows for decision-ready analysis. Many teams assume cross-sensor Landsat satellite time series are automatically comparable; in practice, masking, resolution, and sensor transitions can introduce non-obvious artifacts—especially for variance/covariance-driven metrics (slopes, correlations, cooling/greening diagnostics). What I do: • Landsat/Sentinel/MODIS/etc. time-series analytics (NDVI/LST), change detection, and model-ready datasets • Data continuity & QA audits for cross-sensor Landsat analyses (masking consistency, aggregation logic, statistical continuity checks) • Urban heat risk/exposure mapping, vegetation cooling diagnostics, wildfire severity & recovery, and scalable geospatial pipelines • Decision-ready GIS Analysis: Priority indices / heat risk / canopy targeting with deliverables - I can do the analysis you need. Deliverables: maps + concise technical brief (8–12 pages), GeoTIFF/GeoPackage/CSV outputs, and reproducible code your team can rerun. Typical pilots complete in 1–2 weeks on a fixed fee. To scope quickly: AOI, time window, desired outputs, and the decision question.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Biophysics
• ☆ Remote Sensing
• ☆ Data Analysis
• ☆ Image Processing
• ☆ Data Processing
• ☆ Data Exploration
• ☆ Cluster Analysis
• ☆ Data Visualization
• ☆ Big Data Analytics
• ☆ Machine Learning
• ☆ Statistics
• ☆ Statistical Theory
• ☆ Comparative Analysis
• ☆ Regression Analysis
• ☆ Multivariate Analysis
• ☆ Nonlinear Regression
• ☆ Bayesian Statistics
• ☆ Correlation Analysis
• ☆ Statistical Computing
• ☆ Mathematical Statistics
• ☆ Statistical Review
• ☆ Spatial Statistics
• ☆ Trend Analysis
• ☆ Earth & Atmospheric Science
• ☆ Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• ☆ Geography & Cartography
• ☆ Cartography
• ☆ Biogeography
• ☆ Climate Science
• ☆ Environmental Science
• ☆ Ecology
• ☆ Applied Ecology
• ☆ Systems Ecology
• ☆ Biodiversity
• ☆ Landscape Ecology
• ☆ Matlab
• ☆ Quality Assurance & Quality Control (QA/QC)

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting
• Data & AI

Writing Technical Writing, General Proofreading & Editing

Research Fact Checking, Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review

Consulting Scientific and Technical Consulting

Data & AI Statistical Analysis, Image Processing, Image Analysis, Algorithm Design-Non ML, Algorithm Design-ML, Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics, Data Mining, Data Cleaning, Data Processing, Data Insights

Work Experience

UC Riverside

- Present

Fellowships

UC Riverside Graduate Research Mentoring Program (GRMP)

January 2020 - May 2020

Fellowships

NASA/UCR FIELDS (Fellowship/Internship in Extremely Large Datasets)

September 2019 - May 2020

Fellowships

UCR EDGE (Environmental Dynamics and GeoEcology) Institute

August 2019 - May 2020

Fellowships

UC Riverside Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship

September 2016 - May 2018

Fellowships

Los Angeles Urban Center for Natural Resources Sustainability

August 2016 - December 2016

Education

Ph.D. Plant Biology (Botany and Plant Sciences)

University of California, Riverside

- May 2024

M.S. Environmental Science

Indiana University Bloomington

- May 2016

B.S. Environmental Science

Humboldt State University

- May 2014

Certifications

• Certification details not provided.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Dion Kucera, Matthew Wilfong, Elizaveta Litvak, Noortje H Grijseels, Kristin Hamilton, Lisa Welsh, Joanna Endter‐Wada, G Darrel Jenerette, Diane E Pataki(2025). Irrigation rates and turfgrass evapotranspiration in cities with contrasting water availability . Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 61. (1). Wiley

Wilfong, M., Litvak, E., Grijseels, N.H., Hamilton, K., Kucera, D., Welsh, L., Endter-Wada, J., Jenerette, G.D., Pataki, D.E.(2025). Irrigation rates and turfgrass evapotranspiration in cities with contrasting water availability . Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 61. (1).

Dion Kucera, G Darrel Jenerette(2023). Urban greenness and its cooling effects are influenced by changes in drought, physiography, and socio-demographics in Los Angeles, CA . Urban Climate.

Dion Kucera, G Darrel Jenerette(2023). Urban greenness and its cooling effects are influenced by changes in drought, physiography, and socio-demographics in Los Angeles, CA . Urban Climate.

Kucera, D., Jenerette, G.D.(2023). Urban greenness and its cooling effects are influenced by changes in drought, physiography, and socio-demographics in Los Angeles, CA . Urban Climate. 52.

Dion Kucera, Jun Wang, Lorena Castro‐Garcia, G Darrel Jenerette, Mark Chandler, Cui Ge, Sofia Koutzoukis, Jing Zeng(2022). Resolving and Predicting Neighborhood Vulnerability to Urban Heat and Air Pollution: Insights From a Pilot Project of Community Science . GeoHealth. 6. (5). p. e2021gh000575.

Dion Kucera, Jun Wang, Lorena Castro‐Garcia, G. Darrel Jenerette, Mark Chandler, Cui Ge, Sofia Koutzoukis, Jing Zeng(2022). Resolving and Predicting Neighborhood Vulnerability to Urban Heat and Air Pollution: Insights From a Pilot Project of Community Science . GeoHealth. 6. (5). American Geophysical Union ({AGU})

Wang, J., Castro-Garcia, L., Jenerette, G.D., Chandler, M., Ge, C., Kucera, D., Koutzoukis, S., Zeng, J.(2022). Resolving and Predicting Neighborhood Vulnerability to Urban Heat and Air Pollution: Insights From a Pilot Project of Community Science . Geohealth. 6. (5).

Winslow D Hansen, Joshua P Scholl, Amanda E Sorensen, Kelsey E Fisher, Jessica A Klassen, Leonardo Calle, Gaurav S Kandlikar, Nicholas Kortessis, Dion C Kucera, Danielle E Marias, et al.(2018). How do we ensure the future of our discipline is vibrant? Student reflections on careers and culture of ecology . Ecosphere. 9. (2).

Winslow D. Hansen, Joshua P. Scholl, Amanda E. Sorensen, Kelsey E. Fisher, Jessica A. Klassen, Leonardo Calle, Gaurav S. Kandlikar, Nicholas Kortessis, Dion C. Kucera, Danielle E. Marias, et al.(2018). How do we ensure the future of our discipline is vibrant? Student reflections on careers and culture of ecology . Ecosphere. 9. (2). p. e02099. Wiley

Hansen, W.D., Scholl, J.P., Sorensen, A.E., Fisher, K.E., Klassen, J.A., Calle, L., Kandlikar, G.S., Kortessis, N., Kucera, D.C., Marias, D.E., et al.(2018). How do we ensure the future of our discipline is vibrant? Student reflections on careers and culture of ecology: . Ecosphere. 9. (2).

BOOK CHAPTER

Dion Kucera, Peter Ibsen, Stephanie Piper, G Darrel Jenerette(2023). Urban Climate and the Biophysical Environment . 36--51Taylor \& Francis

Ibsen, P., Kucera, D., Piper, S., Jenerette, G.D.(2023). URBAN CLIMATE AND THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT . Routledge Handbook of Urban Biodiversity. p. 36-51.

OTHER

Kucera, D., Jenerette, G.D.(2023). Urban Greenness and its Cooling Effects are Influenced by Changes in Drought, Physiography, and Socio-Demographics in Los Angeles, Ca . Ssrn.

Dion Kucera, G Darrel Jenerette(2023). Urban Greenness and its Cooling Effects are Influenced by Changes in Drought, Physiography, and Socio-Demographics in Los Angeles, Ca .