Nick Corak wins NC Space Grant Award

Congratulations to Nick Corak! Nick is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Physics working in the Lowman Environmental Dynamics Lab. He recently won a North Carolina Space Grant for his research project titled Disentangling Burn Severity and Vegetation Regrowth Dynamics Following Prescribed Fire Across North Carolina. This is a one year award that provides $10,000 in academic and research support. 

Corak’s research project studies the effects of fire on vegetation regrowth dynamics across a gradient of North Carolina ecosystems and climates through a combination of ground observations and NASA satellite remote sensing data. This work will add to scientific literature on how fire impacts vegetation health, being the first of its kind to use ground observations to validate remotely-sensed leaf area index (LAI) after fire.