Dr. Pickard is a Senior Geospatial Scientist conducting geospatial research and data science for Tetra Tech Inc. As a landscape ecologist by training, he combines his knowledge of ecological processes with geospatial modeling and spatial statistics to better understand the multi-faceted and multi-scalar dynamics of human-environment interactions and their consequences on ecosystem health, climate, land cover/use change, nutrient fluxes and habitat condition.
His research foci span many disciplines, from developing urban growth models, designing ecosystem service tools and web applications, creating novel standards for conducting geospatial accuracy assessments, watershed analyses, and spatio-temporal model coupling. In his current role, Dr. Pickard leads a small team of scientists providing full service scientific consulting – from ideation to project completion and/or publication.
Prior to working for Tetra Tech, he served as a Kravis Post-Doctoral Researcher for the Environmental Defense Fund where he designed a habitat modeling and monitoring framework for the conterminous United States. Earlier work included being awarded an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Research Fellowship with the US Environmental Protection Agency. There he worked on numerous geospatial modeling efforts spanning climate and water demand projections, biodiversity mapping, and ecosystem service benefit modeling.
