Scott Ketcheson is an Associate Professor and NSERC Canada Research Chair in Hydrological Sustainability at Athabasca University. As a field hydrologist, Scott studies the movement of water between forests, wetlands, and streams in northern Alberta. He has over 15 years of experience in wetland hydrology and has worked in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region on reclamation hydrology for over 10 years. His research program uses both traditional hydrological techniques and innovative sensor networks to gain a better understanding of the how headwater catchments work and their importance for keeping water flowing through streams and rivers within the lower Athabasca River Basin.

Maria Strack is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at University of Waterloo and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate. She has built an innovative and internationally-recognized research program investigating peatland greenhouse gas exchange with a focus on managed ecosystems including those affected by disturbance and restoration. Results from her research have been incorporated in Canada’s GHG National Inventory Report and was a member of Canada’s Nature Based Climate Solutions Advisory Committee from 2021-2023.  She was a lead author on the chapter “Rewetted Organic Soils” in 2013 Supplement to 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands and coordinating lead author on the North America chapter in the Global Peatlands Assessment.

Greg is a geospatial scientist whose research activities revolve around the application of remote sensing and other geospatial technologies to environmental monitoring and ecology. He is involved in a wide variety of interdisciplinary research collaborations in the fields of wildlife ecology, restoration assessment, ecological monitoring, and vegetation mapping. He’s interested in a broad range of remote sensing and other GIScience pursuits, including drones, machine learning, cloud computing, environmental modelling, and data fusion/integration.

Dr. Bin Xu held the NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Peatland Restoration at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology since 2012. He has over 18 years of research experience on the impact of human activities on natural peatland ecosystems in boreal Canada. He has worked closely with university collaborators, industry partners and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop science-based, effective techniques and methods to reclaim disturbed peatlands by in-situ extraction in northern Alberta. He’s leading research on assessing and mitigating industrial footprints, particularly in-situ oil and gas exploration, on boreal peatlands through strategic planning, ecological restoration solutions, and innovation monitoring techniques. He’s closely involved in the development and implementation of provincial peatland reclamation standards and policy. He has hosted workshops and field training schools for practitioners, land managers, regulators on bryophyte biology/identification, peatland ecology, community ecology, provincial criteria assessment, as well as hands-on training of site preparation, civil earthwork, plant species selection, propagation and field deployment.

Joseph is a MSc thesis student from the University of Calgary working on the main access road at Aspen. His research is focused on characterizing the hydrology and peat hydrophysical properties of the ecosystems adjacent to the road. As a technician, he manages the hydrologic and carbon aspects of the Aspen project. He is mainly focused on the eddy covariance data, which will be used to assess differences in carbon and water dynamics on either side of the access road.

Jiaao is a PhD student at the University of Calgary. He is working on the potential applications of remote sensing techniques (earth observations, drone data) to better understand the ecological and hydrological impacts of linear anthropogenic disturbances in peatland ecosystems. He used to work for the territorial government as a remote sensing analyst and for the Applied Geospatial Research Group (AGRG) as a research coordinator. 

Carissa is a PhD student bringing over a decade of wetland research experience ranging from geospatial analysis to microbial ecology. She has worked for federal and provincial government agencies, conservation authorities and not-for-profit organizations. Her current project investigates how road infrastructure may alter carbon cycling in peatlands, via shifts in vegetation communities and microbial function. 

Saeed joined the Aspen Research Group in 2025, bringing a background in geomatics and geoengineering with a focus on climate change impacts and environmental crisis mitigation from Europe. His research centers on the application of remote sensing methods, including satellite imagery, to assess the water bodies, vegetation, and land surface temperatures. Currently, he is working on the project "Evapotranspiration Control Based on Variations in the Water Table Levels on Either Side of the Aspen Mineral Road," which integrates remote sensing and Eddy Covariance techniques. He has also developed expertise in using surveying tools such as GPS, total stations, laser scanners, and drones throughout his career as a senior supervising engineer on large-scale construction projects.

​Julia is a MSc visiting research student from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich working on the main access road at Aspen. Her research focuses on investigating the dynamics of evapotranspiration in response to microtopographic variations and anthropogenic disturbance caused by the mineral road at Aspen.

Euan is a BSc honours student in Environmental Science, concentrating in Geography at the University of Calgary. He worked as an Undergraduate Field Assistant performing various tasks and hydrological measurements near the Aspen road. His undergraduate thesis project focuses on quantifying streamflow characteristics and responses within the Aspen catchment, both at the road and the catchment outlet. The goal is to compare streamflow responses and characteristics among culverts and their catchments at the road, to that of the overall catchment outlet, and how beaver activity is altering streamflow between the road and the outlet.  

Rakshit is a dual BSc honours student at the University of Calgary working on the main access road at Aspen. He is doing Ecology and Earth Science with a Geology minor and certificates in Sustainability Studies and Entrepreneurial Thinking. He has an interest in learning about wetlands, hydrology, vegetation, and aquatic and terrestrial ecology and working in projects related to these. His project looks at the influence of the mineral road at Aspen on the vegetation communities adjacent to the road by quantifying the differences in the percent cover and heights of plant groups.