Dr. David W. Johnston is a Professor of the Practice of Marine Conservation & Ecology in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and the Director of the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing (MaRRS) Lab at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. Johnston is also appointed as the Associate Dean of Teaching Innovation and the Chair of the Duke Environmental Leadership Program. Johnston holds a PhD from Duke University and received post-doctoral training at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. His professional experience ranges from leading research programs for NOAA to working as an ecologist within the NGO sector. Johnston’s research program currently focuses on advancing robotic applications, platforms and sensors for marine science, education, and conservation missions. He has published extensively in top journals in the fields of conservation biology, oceanography, marine ecology, remote sensing, and marine policy on research that spans tropical, temperate and polar biomes.
Josh serves as a Research Technician at the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab. Transitioning from a background in fighter jet engine maintenance, he has redirected his precision skills towards specializing in GIS and remote sensing. Upon obtaining his undergraduate degree in GIS, he harnessed his expertise in aviation, GIS, and conservation to establish two drone programs benefiting the Cincinnati Nature Center and Cardinal Land Conservancy. Josh plans to continue learning new GIS and Remote Sensing techniques and applying them to marine science.
Libby is a Research Technician at the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab based in Durham, NC. A recent graduate from the Master of Environmental Management program at the Nicholas School, Libby’s work focused on using camera traps and distance sampling to determine drivers of biodiversity and wildlife abundance. Before Duke, she received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Miami in Ecosystem Science and Policy and Marine Science. Libby is excited to apply her skills in the field, geospatial analysis, and statistics to conservation with the MaRRS lab!
Salinda plays a key coordination role in the MaRRS Lab, managing projects, facilities, student orientation, budgeting, proposal development, and administrative support. She works closely with the MaRRS Lab director, staff, and students, as well as with Duke Marine Lab business office, student services, and grants management staff. Salinda holds both a BS degree (Univ of RI) and a MS degree (NC State) in wildlife biology and management. Her professional experience includes time spent as a field biologist working on wildlife conservation projects around the country, and as a project coordinator for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Salinda provides key behind-the-scenes support to keep projects and people on-task, on-time, and on-budget. The MaRRS Lab is a great place to put this work into practice.
Tasya is a Postdoctoral Associate at the MaRRS Lab based in Beaufort, NC. Her research uses spatial data and imagery to explore impacts to biodiversity and ecosystem services from land use and climate change. She has contributed to regional and global-scale projects with Conservation International, South Australia’s Department of Environment and Water, and the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions. Tasya began flying drones in 2016 at the University of Adelaide where she also did her PhD and has since earned her certification to fly in Australia, Singapore and the USA. Her work currently explores the potential for drones and other emerging technologies to map and quantify the ecosystem services and climate benefits of seagrasses globally.
I got my start in ecology at a barbecue, where I was offered a tech position in Gabon studying forest dynamics. Springboard from there to an MS in tree demography in Kenya and then to a PhD at Duke on elephants. Though there were lots of left turns at Albuquerque along the way.
I've been working with freshwater turtles ecology since my undergraduate course developing statistical models to understand population dynamics. I worked with traditional communities in my master's, which was essential to understanding the importance of participatory conservation plans and their role in the Amazon region. Then, the interest in technology and ecology lead me to my current research project using statistical modeling, GIS, imagery analysis to understand the impacts of hydroelectric damming on the freshwater turtles populations. My project has potential to be a participatory tool for integrate local communities in the research process and predict future scenarios regarding the damming of the Amazon Basin rivers.
Concentrations: Coastal & Marine Science; Environmental Analytics & Modeling
I will be completing my Masters Project focused on quantifying shark behavior using UAVs in this lab, along with working this summer on data analysis for Mallows Bay, a new marine reserve. I also work for Duke Restore on the Re-Wilding Team, am a board member for the Ocean Policy Working Group, and recently began interning with the National Working Waterfront Network and Georgia Sea Grant to identify policy gaps for Georgia’s working waterfronts. I’m also a member of Bass Connections project using drones to study elephants in Zambia! Prior to Duke, I got my B.S. from UC Berkeley and after graduation worked with a Ph.D student studying juvenile salmonids in Northern California before moving to the Big Island as a field technician for the Hawai'i Island Hawksbill Project. After that, I spent almost 2 years in the Florida Keys as a marine science instructor and education coordinator for a small non-profit called the Pigeon Key Foundation.
I will be completing my Masters Project focused on quantifying shark behavior using UAVs in this lab, along with working this summer on data analysis for Mallows Bay, a new marine reserve. I also work for Duke Restore on the Re-Wilding Team, am a board member for the Ocean Policy Working Group, and recently began interning with the National Working Waterfront Network and Georgia Sea Grant to identify policy gaps for Georgia’s working waterfronts. I’m also a member of Bass Connections project using drones to study elephants in Zambia! Prior to Duke, I got my B.S. from UC Berkeley and after graduation worked with a Ph.D student studying juvenile salmonids in Northern California before moving to the Big Island as a field technician for the Hawai'i Island Hawksbill Project. After that, I spent almost 2 years in the Florida Keys as a marine science instructor and education coordinator for a small non-profit called the Pigeon Key Foundation.
Undegraduate senior majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Marine Science & Conservation. Working in the MaRRS Lab this year to augment uncrewed surface vessels to remotely survey alligator populations in the lakes and rivers of North Carolina by leveraging computer vision. Originally exposed to oceanography through a 6-week research cruise on the SSV Corwith Cramer as part of a Sea Education Association program.
I am a junior majoring in biology and evolutionary anthropology. I am currently working on my honors thesis as a Rachel Carson Scholar in the MaRRS Lab. My research interests primarily stem from an exposure to polar environments while living in Tromsø, Norway. My project compares a dataset of Antarctic fin whale body morphometrics with historical whaling data dating back to the early 20th century. I am also very interested in effective science communication.
Lab Alumni
I'm an avid environmental scientist working to expand my capacity for UAS research. Some projects I've worked on in the MaRRS Lab include a UAS geomorphological survey of the Rachel Carson Reserve and deep learning object detection of elkhorn coral in drone imagery from St. Croix, USVI.
Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, former two-term Mayor of Beaufort, NC, MaRRS Lab remote pilot, and FAA commercial/instrument/multi-engine pilot pursuing optionally piloted aircraft to greatly expand the spatial scale of our work while shrinking temporal scales.
Chelsea is a recent graduate of Duke's Master of Environmental Management Program, where she concentrated in coastal environmental management and received a certificate in geospatial analysis. Chelsea's role at the MaRRS Lab includes various communications efforts, including managing lab social media and producing the monthly livestream series, "Tales from Beyond the Geofence". In addition to her communications duties, Chelsea supports PhD candidate Greg Larsen's Bass Connections project titled "Biogeographic Assessment of Antarctic Coastal Habitats" by analyzing UAS data collected along the Western Antarctic Peninsula throughout the 2019 and 2020 field season.
I've been working with freshwater turtles ecology since my undergraduate course developing statistical models to understand population dynamics. I worked with traditional communities in my master's, which was essential to understanding the importance of participatory conservation plans and their role in the Amazon region. Then, the interest in technology and ecology lead me to my current research project using statistical modeling, GIS, imagery analysis to understand the impacts of hydroelectric damming on the freshwater turtles populations. My project has potential to be a participatory tool for integrate local communities in the research process and predict future scenarios regarding the damming of the Amazon Basin rivers.
Julian Dale has been with the Duke University Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing lab since its inception. His key roles include custom engineering of aircraft and payloads specific for marine research, pilot instructor and overall maintenance of the fleet. He also teaches engineering and control systems classes as part of the university curriculum. Julian has a mechanical engineering background and extensive experience in design and manufacture with a strong electronics competency. With over 900 flights and 250 hours piloting our fleet of 45 aircraft all over the world, Julian has developed a sound understanding of the science goals and can apply this emerging UAS technology in a safe productive manner. Field operations including piloting large multi rotor and fixed wing UAS from Scotland to the Antarctic. This includes large whale photogrammetry, seals and sea bird population monitoring, habitat monitoring and mapping. In a previous career with the University of St Andrews, Scotland, Julian was involved in a number of boat and aerial based population assessment work and telemetry tag deployment.
David was a Master of Environmental Management student at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Before arriving at Duke, he earned his BS in Marine Science as NC State University. David's past research focused on microbiology, and using small autonomous aircrafts to survey water quality and algal populations.
Larry majored in biology and minored in computer science and statistics. For his senior thesis, Larry worked with MaRRS Lab CEM student David Polling. Together, Larry and David used baited remote underwater video (BRUV) and UAS to positively identify shark species. Larry was also interested in utilizing machine learning tools to track shark movement and count individuals.
Beck was a research technician at the main campus lab “The Hangar”. She is a geologist who was first used drones to study rock slopes and geologic hazards during her undergraduate career at Radford University. As a graduate geology student at Oregon State University, she incorporated drones into a multidisciplinary coastal monitoring program to study dune ecomorphodynamics and map invasive grasses on Oregon’s coastal foredunes. Using RGB and multispectral imagery, she evaluated the influence of coastal management techniques on the shape of dunes and tracked growth patterns of dune vegetation to help inform coastal management decisions. She graduated with her Masters of Science in Geology in 2023, when she joined the MaRRS lab. In her role at the main campus lab, she piloted drones, analyzed data, assisted students in conducting research, and organized activities to introduce the use of drones as a scientific tool.
