Adriana Parra Ruiz

Adriana Parra is a JPL postdoctoral fellow working on the detection of land cover and land use change using optical, radar and LiDAR data. As part of her research, Adriana focuses on detecting changes in vegetation cover extent and vertical structure and assessing the impacts of ecosystem degradation on derived services, particularly biomass accumulation, and ecohydrological processes.

Adriana is originally from Colombia, where she received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and a M.S. degree in Earth sciences. She received a Ph.D. degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno. 


Education: 
  • Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno.
  • M.Sc. in Earth Sciences, EAFIT University. Medellin, Colombia
  • B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Antioquia School of Engineering. Envigado, Colombia 

Research Interests: 
  • Land cover and Land use change
  • Ecosystem services
  • Ecohydrological processes
  • Novel applications of remote sensing for environmental science

Professional Experience: 
  • Postdoctoral researcher, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, September 2021 – Present
  • Project coordinator, OPUS Urban Projects Office, MedelliIn - Colombia January 2014 – December 2015
  • Projects professional, Geocol Consultants, Bogotá D.C. - Colombia. September 2011 - June 2013.
  • Research Assistant, EAFIT University, Medellin - Colombia. June 2009 - December 2010

Selected Awards: 
  • Colciencias-Fulbright Scholarship grantee 2016-2020

Selected Publications: 
  1. Gómez, A.M., Parra, A., Pavelsky, T.M., Wise, E., Villegas, J.C., Meijide, A., 2023. Ecohydrological impacts of oil palm expansion: a systematic review. Environ. Res. Lett. 18. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbc38
  2. Parra, A., Greenberg, J.A., 2022. Estimation of Fractional Plant Lifeform Cover for the Conterminous United States Using Landsat Imagery and Airborne LiDAR. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 60. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2022.3199156
  3. Parra, A., Restrepo Angel, J.D., 2014. The environmental collapse in the Patía river, Colombia: Morphological variations and impacts on mangrove ecosystems. Lat. Am. J. Aquat. Res. 42, 40–60. https://doi.org/10.3856/vol42-issue1-fulltext-4
Address: 
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
Email: 
Adriana.s.parra@jpl.nasa.gov