Conor is a graduate student in the Department of Geography at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Biology (Ecology/Evolution/Behavior) and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His work there involved creating a robotic system to perform automated LiDAR surveys of concrete structures.

His current work with SCI-CLAWPS is on a SERDP funded project that draws on that experience in both robotics and ecology to apply computer vision and remote sensing technologies to surveys of vegetation, chiefly using aerial LiDAR and multispectral satellite imagery. Conor is particularly interested in monitoring and predicting drought stress in arid chaparral and riparian forested systems, and also in species classification of woody plants using optical imagery and LiDAR. When he is not working he enjoys birding, botanizing, and gardening.