Hydrolab Newbie

Greetings VT Hydro Lab members and followers! My name is Cody Gillin, and I’m the newest member of Kevin McGuire’s research team. I’ll spend the next two years learning all about hydropedology while pursuing a master’s degree. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, my background, and goals for my time at Virginia Tech.

A native of Washington State, I earned a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from Western Washington University in 2009. I enjoyed a variety of field and lab courses, mostly related to fish, wildlife, and forest ecology of the Pacific Northwest. I’ve worked as a biological field technician for various public agencies, served as an undergraduate research assistant for a WWU ethnobotanist, and spent five years interpreting Spanish for Bellingham Public Schools.

Travel and multiculturalism are an integral part of my life. Three times I’ve journeyed through South America, establishing life-long friendships and experiencing a multitude of unique people and ecosystems. In addition to backpacking the continent, I also studied Andean Bear ecology in the cloud forests of northwest Ecuador and mentored impoverished children in Peru.

My research interests lie in landscape ecology and conservation. As an undergrad I became fascinated with a growing body of research that examines the importance of linkages between habitat patches. While I have a solid understanding of field methods and ecosystem ecology, I want to learn more about technology that drives landscape science. Specifically, I hope to become well-versed in GIS and Remote Sensing – the analysis of spatial data is a key component of many landscape ecology research projects.

It is a pleasure to join the water research group at Virginia Tech. I’m excited to delve into hydropedology and be a part of watershed studies at Hubbard Brook. A big thank you to Kevin and Scott for this opportunity.

-Cody