Rowan Converse Geospatial technologies for wildlife management and conservation
rowan.converse@gmail.com

Center for the Advancement of Spatial Informatics Research and Education, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Research Assistant / USFWS Project Manager (Aug 2021 - Present)

• Project manager for two cooperative agreements with US Fish and Wildlife developing deep learning models for wildlife inventory applications
• Drone pilot on ASPIRE missions: coordination on airspace permissions for imaging sensitive areas, flights, post-processing of orthomosaic and digital surface model products

Research Assistant / Lab Manager (Dec 2019 - Aug 2021)

• Organized virtual "Spatial Brown Bag" weekly student research presentation series to maintain community of practice during pandemic remote learning
• Developed web content for ASPIRE website launch; kept site up to date
• Supported student and faculty research through resource coordination/troubleshooting, mentoring

Research Assistant (Aug 2017 - Dec 2019)

• Won 2nd place in the American Association of Geographers' Remote Sensing Specialty Group Student Honors Competition for research conducted during this assistantship
• Published a peer-reviewed journal article on sub-pixel analysis of drought vegetation dynamics in MDPI Remote Sensing based on research conducted during this assistantship
• Awarded a Sevilleta Summer Research Fellowship
• Collected multispectral aerial imagery of the 82km Wild and Scenic stretch of the Rio Chama and RTK ground reference data on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers

Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program
University of New Mexico, Bosque School
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ecologist/Interim Data Manager (Jan 2017 - Aug 2017)

• Completed full proof of core long-term ecological monitoring datasets spanning 20 years; drafted new and expanded on existing QAQC protocols
• Provided GIS support and map design for grant applications, educational products for K-12 students, publicly available web maps of long-term ecological data

Biologist (Jan 2014 - Aug 2015)

• Managed tamarisk leaf beetle monitoring project for two seasons: scheduled field collections, organized database, coordinated with collaborating agency and nonprofit partners, wrote and submitted two reports to funders in fulfillment of grant obligations
• TA and guest lecturer for UNM's Bosque Internship class

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
Contractor for the US Forest Service
Flagstaff, Arizona

New Mexico Seasonal Field Crew Leader, Mexican Spotted Owl Occupancy Survey (Mar 2016 - Aug 2016)

• Supervised three remote field crews tasked with collecting owl occupancy data at 100 field sites located in National Forest land in New Mexico
• Nightly surveys in remote, mountainous terrain; pathfinding via handheld GPS
• Contract extended for data entry and proofing on conclusion of the field season upon recommendation of Mexican Spotted Owl Project Manager

Mexican Grey Wolf Recovery Program,
US Fish and Wildlife Service

Volunteer Field Technician (Oct 2015 - Mar 2016): Alpine, Arizona

• Daily radiotelemetry of collared wolves; triangulation in mountainous terrain; offhighway 4WD driving in winter conditions
• Confirmed wolf presence in an area with no collared wolves during winter sign survey
• Assistance with capture and handling of wild wolves: traplines and ground support of helicopter captures

Volunteer Facility Caretaker (Feb 2014 - Oct 2015): Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Weekly animal care and pen maintenance at a remote pre-release facility
• Breeding season observations
• Assistance with capture and handling of wolves for facility transfers, health checks