Naomi Beth Schwartz

Naomi Beth Schwartz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is on leave until August 31, 2027. Her research focuses on disturbances in tropical forest landscapes, integrating remote sensing, GIS, and field methods to study climate and land-use change impacts.

• Education:
  • PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (2017), Columbia University
  • MSc in Ecology (2012), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
  • BA in Environmental Science and Policy (2009), Duke University

Research Themes: Her work examines climate extremes, fire regimes, forest-savanna mosaics, and carbon sequestration in tropical ecosystems. She investigates how vegetation structure, hydraulic traits, and socio-economic factors influence forest resilience and recovery.

Recent Publications: Highlight methodological innovations in remote sensing (e.g., spectral mixture analysis for fire refugia mapping, GEDI LiDAR applications) and ecological findings like drought vulnerability linked to hydraulic traits, fire-climate-human interactions in Southeast Asia, and reforestation impermanence in Latin America.

• Scientific Awards:
  • 2024 UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowship

Advising: Supervises graduate students in tropical forest dynamics, including theses on fire refugia, forest-savanna boundaries, and microclimate modeling.