Jennifer Pontius

Jennifer Pontius is a Senior Lecturer and serves as Director of the Environmental Sciences Program and Geospatial Technologies Program at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont. She is also Assessment Coordinator for the Rubenstein School and Principal Investigator for the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC). Her work focuses on integrating geospatial tools like remote sensing and GIS to address forest health challenges across scales, collaborating with USDA Forest Service, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and others. She holds a Ph.D. in Earth and Ecosystem Science from the University of New Hampshire and dual B.A. degrees in Environmental Science and Spanish from the University of Virginia.

Research Expertise: Her research emphasizes scaling field observations to landscape-level insights using remote sensing and GIS, particularly in detecting forest decline caused by invasive species, climate change, and nutrient depletion. Current projects include novel forest structure mapping techniques and decision support tools for sustainable forest management in the northeastern U.S.

Education: Ph.D. 2004 (University of New Hampshire), M.S. 1998 (University of New Hampshire), B.A. 1993 (University of Virginia).

Grants & Projects: Principal Investigator on high-impact projects like the Regional Forest Health Monitoring Program (1992–present), Climate Change Exposure Mapping (2021–2024), and Vermont Forest Health Monitoring Program. Active in EPSCOR initiatives and fragmentation risk assessments.

Labs/Teams: FEMC collaborator and leader in geospatial technology development. Directs Environmental Sciences program with curricula in forestry, sustainability, and policy.