Mikael P Hiestand, Ph.D.

Dr. Mikael Hiestand is a Mendenhall Fellow and research geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and the University of California, Santa Barbara Climate Hazard Center. Mikael completed his M.S. and Ph.D. Geography and Climate Science at The Pennsylvania State University. His dissertation work focused on how differences in moisture fluxes from midwestern croplands and forests interact with synoptic patterns to influence spatial patterns in convective cloud systems. Mikael is currently working on using remotely sensed vegetation data for enhanced drought monitoring and evapotranspiration prediction.