Andrew J. Sánchez Meador
Executive Director, Ecological Restoration Institute
Professor of Forest Biometrics and Quantitative Ecology, School of Forestry
Education
- PhD, Forest Science, Northern Arizona University, December 2006
- MS, Forestry, Mississippi State University, May 2002
- BS, Forestry, Mississippi State University, May 1999
Andrew grew up in Mississippi and received his BS and MS from Mississippi State University, specializing in forest ecology, longleaf pine growth and yield, and artificial intelligence. Andrew moved to Arizona in 2002 and completed his PhD in December 2006, after which he began a career with the US Forest Service Washington Office in Fort Collins, CO, and then the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico. Andrew returned to NAU in 2012 in a joint appointment between the Ecological Restoration Institute and the School of Forestry. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in the school in August 2018.
Andrew’s contributions to solving problems at the interface between land management and applied forest science and restoration ecology are paving the way for researchers and land managers to come together and restore Western forests and woodlands. Andrew maintains an active role in the research and professional community and his research is internationally recognized in various scientific journals including: the Journal of Vegetation Science; Restoration Ecology; Forest Ecology and Management; Fire Ecology; Earth and Space Science; Remote Sensing of Environment; Journal of Applied Ecology; among others.
Research Interests
Andrew’s research interests focus on quantifying how natural and anthropogenic disturbances shape forested and woodland ecosystems, the application of novel quantitative and technological approaches to answer applied questions regarding ecosystems and their management, and exploring ways to restore damaged, degraded, or destroyed ecosystems.
His current research includes studies that examine:
- drivers of forest dynamics and the how prescriptions intended to mimic desired disturbances differ at multiple spatial levels;
- how best to utilize field-based inventories and sampling, integrate landscape ecology and remote sensing techniques and approaches, and merge monitoring results into future actions in an adaptive management framework;
- assessing technologies such as mobile lidar and machine learning to organize, store, query, summarize and analyze increasing larger and more complex datasets for forestry and ecological restoration applications;
- quantifying forests’ capacity to provide ecosystem services, including wood and fiber production for traditional timber products or bioenergy; and
- evaluating the accuracy and effectiveness of long-term ecological studies to document coarse woody debris (CDW) dynamics and the use of remote sensing, as well as novel field-based sample designs, to assess CWD loading, condition, and size distribution in frequent-fire ecosystems of the southwestern US.
Office Rm 121
Phone 928-523-3448
Room 121