Nicholas Coops

Nicholas Coops is a Professor and Department Head at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Resources Management. He holds the UBC Chair in Forest Management and directs the Integrated Remote Sensing Studio (IRSS), focusing on remote sensing technologies for forest conservation, management, and production. His research spans vegetation physiology modeling, LiDAR applications, biodiversity monitoring, and climate change impacts on forests.

• Department Head, Forest Resources Management
• UBC Chair in Forest Management
• Director, Masters in Geomatics for Environmental Management
• Co-director, Master of Sustainable Forest Management

Key research areas include:

• Integration of high spectral/temporal remote sensing with plant physiological models
• Development of light-use efficiency (LUE) estimation techniques
• National LiDAR deployment for forest structure analysis
• Dynamic Habitat Index (DHI) for biodiversity assessment
• 3PG/3PGS forest growth modeling with remote sensing inputs

His recent work emphasizes:

• Advancements in LiDAR for forest inventory and carbon quantification
• UAV-based monitoring of tree physiological behavior
• Time-series analysis of forest recovery post-wildfire
• Deep learning fusion of ALS, multispectral, and topographic data
• Intertidal biofilm dynamics using hourly UAV acquisitions
• Climate adaptation studies in boreal and Pacific Northwest forests

Scientific accolades include:

• Highly Cited Researcher (2019-2024)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2022)
• Marcus Wallenberg Prize (2020)
• Gold Medal – Canadian Remote Sensing Society (2020)
• UBC Killam Research Prize (2020)
• Canadian Forest Service Collaboration Award (2013)

Collaborations with Canadian Forest Service and international teams have produced:

• Best practice guides for LiDAR applications
• Nationally significant datasets via Canada Forest Information System
• Advancements in biodiversity monitoring frameworks (Science 2015, Nature 2016)
• Development of the Dynamic Habitat Index (DHI) applied globally