Roxanna Ayllón
B.S, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru

Research Interests: Watershed Management
My main interest is to work with local people of the Pachitea Basin to improve the management of their rivers. Environmental education beginning in elementary school is a basic component for this goal, and I also coordinate AARAM's environmental education program in local schools of the Pachitea basin in collaboration with the GLOBE Program.

Rosa Cossío
B.S., Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru
Graduate Fellow of the Inter-American Institute

Tentative Thesis Title: Socioeconomic Controls on Land Use in Riparian Zones of the Pachitea Basin, Central Andean Amazon, Peru
My thesis research seeks to identify the socioeconomic factors most responsible for determining land use practices in riparian zones of the Pachitea Basin. I gather data through personal interviews with colonist and native inhabitants of the region and analyze those data statistically to isolate important controlling parameters.

Daniel Gann
BS, Pädagogischen Hochschule, Germany

Tentative Thesis Title: Land-Cover Detection and Structure Analysis in the Pachitea Basin, Central Andean Amazon, Peru
The primary purpose of my research is to assess the current state of land cover in the Pachitea basin of Peru, and to develop a better understanding of colonization and land use patterns as a function of natural, cultural and historical landscape attributes. The research consists of a three-step analysis. In a first step the land cover is derived from current satellite images applying multi-spectral analysis techniques. The second step focuses on the quantitative analysis and description of landscape patterns, which can be expressed in terms of indices that are calculated from the land-cover map, utilizing spatial analysis tools. In the third and final step I will attempt to establish relationships between natural, demographic and cultural factors and specific landscape pattern indices.

Carlos Mena
BS, Escuela Politécnica del Ejército, Ecuador

Research Interests: Analysis of Deforestation : Socioeconomic drivers, spatial patterns and metrics in the Napo Basin, Ecuadorian Amazon. The primary purpose of this research is to analyze the forces that cause deforestation in the Napo Basin of Ecuador, and to determine its influence on spatial patterns and metrics. Deforestation will be studied at local and regional spatial scales in order to obtain a better understanding of its implications for management and polices. The development and changes in landscape patterns in response biogeophysical and socioeconomic factors influence the structure, function and modification of ecosystems. For this reason the AARAM project will put its maximal effort in studing this phenomenon.

Alejandro Rosselli
BS, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Research Interests: Remote Sensing and Land Cover Analysis
I will be working in the preparation of a satellite image based map of the upper Caqueta river basin (Colombia) which will include the sampling area where actual campaigns are taking place. My goal is also to identify current land use, land cover and the change in these two variables during the last ten years. Remote sensing and G.I.S techniques will be my basic research tools.

Donna Sakura-Lemessy
BS, University of Miami, USA
Gates Millennium Scholar

Tentative Thesis Title: The Detection and Analysis of Riparian Land Use in the Pachitea Basin, Peruvian Amazon
I am using Landsat TM images to and current image analysis and GIS techniques to resolve and map riparian land cover and land use in the Pachitea Basin. I am employing three separate approaches to addressing sub-pixel variability. The product of my research will serve as an essential input to the SWIM modeling efforts underway within AARAM.