Steven Pestana

Logo

Email: spestana@uw.edu

GitHub: spestana

LinkedIn, ORCID

@spestana@mastodon.social

Curriculum Vitae (updated 10/2023)

Steven Pestana

Pronouns: he/him/his

Research Scientist and Instructor. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. University of Washington, Seattle

spestana@uw.edu; spestana.github.io

Education

PhD 2023, Civil & Environmental Engineering. University of Washington, Seattle, WA

MS 2019, Civil & Environmental Engineering. University of Washington, Seattle, WA

BS 2015, Geology. California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Pomona, CA

Awards & Honors

Research and Professional Experience

Research Scientist. University of Washington. Seattle, WA. 2023-present

Graduate Research Assistant. University of Washington. Seattle, WA. 2017-2023

Technical Operations Assistant. Tableau Software. Seattle, WA. 2016-2017

Internships:

Teaching Experience

As Instructor:

CEE 465 / CEWA 565: Data Analysis for Water Science. Fall 2023. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington.

CEE 465 / CEWA 565: Data Analysis for Water Science. Fall 2020. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington.

As Teaching Assistant:

CEE 465 / CEWA 565: Data Analysis for Water Science. Fall 2019. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington.

CEE 465 / CEWA 565: Data Analysis for Water Science. Fall 2018. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington.

As Workshop Instructor/Organizer:

GeoSMART Hackweek 2023. October 2023. University of Washington. Seattle, WA

SnowEx Hackweek 2022. July 2022. University of Washington. Seattle, WA

SnowEx Hackweek 2021. July 2021. Online.

Urban Heat Island Hackathon. October 2020. Online.

Waterhackweek 2020. September 2020. Online.

Waterhackweek 2019. March 2019. University of Washington. Seattle, WA

Fieldwork Experience

Cle Elumn Ridge Snow/Forest Observations, 2022. Cle Elum, WA.

SnowEx 2020, Intensive Observation Period, 2020. Grand Mesa, CO.

“Detecting Drought From Space”, 2019. Los Alamos, NM.

Easton Glacier Survey, 2018. Kulshan (Mount Baker), WA.

Nooksack River Survey, 2018. Whatcom County, WA.

CUAHSI Snow, School, 2018. Fraser Experimental Forest, CO.

Publications

Pestana, S., Chickadel, C. C., Lundquist, J. D. (in review). Thermal infrared shadow-hiding in GOES-R ABI imagery: snow and forest temperature observations from the SnowEx 2020 Grand Mesa field campaign. in review at The Cryosphere. Preprint doi:10.5194/egusphere-2023-1784

Pestana, S., Bair, E. H., Dozier, J., Lundquist, J. D. (2023). Observations of diurnal midwave infrared anisotropy over snow and forests with GOES-R ABI. 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). (conference paper)

Pestana, S. & Lundquist, J. D. (2022). Evaluating GOES-16 ABI surface brightness temperature observation biases over the central Sierra Nevada of California. Remote Sensing of Environment, 281, 113221. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2022.113221

Pestana, S., Chickadel, C. C., Harpold, A., Kostadinov, T. S., Pai, H., Tyler, S., Webster, C., & Lundquist, J. D. (2019). Bias correction of airborne thermal infrared observations over forests using melting snow. Water Resources Research, 55(12), 11331-11343. doi:10.1029/2019WR025699

Presentations

+ Invited talk, * Oral presentation

* Pestana, S., Bair, E. H., Dozier, J., Lundquist, J. D. 2023. “Observations of diurnal midwave infrared anisotropy over snow and forests with GOES-R ABI”. IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). Pasadena, CA.

+* Pestana, S., Chickadel., C.C., Lundquist, J.D. 2021. “High temporal resolution GOES-16 and -17 observations of snow-surface temperature during the SnowEx 2020 field campaign.” American Meteorological Society, Conference on Hydrology. Online.

* Pestana, S., Lundquist, J.D. 2021. “Orthorectifying GOES ABI imagery for mountain snow temperature observations.” American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting. Online & New Orleans, LA.

* Pestana, S., Lundquist, J., Chickadel, C., Webster, C., Harpold, A., Tyler, S., Kostadinov, T. 2019. “Airborne Remote Sensing Surface Temperatures of Forests and Melting Snow at Different Spatial Scales.” International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. Montreal, Canada.

Pestana, S., Lundquist, J.D. 2019. “Multi-scale Comparison of Wintertime Mountain Surface Temperatures from GOES ABI, MODIS, ASTER, and Airborne Thermal Infrared Observations.” American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.

Pestana, S., Halverson, G., Barker, M., Cooley, S. 2016. “Applying ECOSTRESS Diurnal Cycle Land Surface Temperature and Evapotranspiration to Agricultural Soil and Water Management.” American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA.

Zajicek, B., , Villalobos, M., Pestana, S. (presenting author) 2016. “Groundwater Aquifer Recharge in the San Joaquin Valley, CA.” ESRI International Users Conference. San Diego, CA.

Pestana, S., S. Hoban, S., 2015. “Investigating Dusty Plasma of Cometary Coma With NASA Stardust Data.” Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The Woodlands, TX.

Service & Volunteering

Naturalist volunteer with the Parks Department of Bellevue, WA: Assisting with environmental restoration work, invasive plant removal, educational programs, hikes, and canoe tours. 2022-present

Core team member Ribbit Network: Building an open-source greenhouse gas sensor network for citizen scientists, educators, and researchers (ribbitnetwork.org). 2021-present

Naturalist volunteer with the annual Seattle Aquarium: Cedar River Salmon Journey Program: Communicating to the public the science of salmon migration, riparian and coastal ecosystems, and watershed hydrology. 2016-present

Graduate Student Advisory Board member. UW Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Represented graduate student interests in faculty meetings, helped organize department events, and served on the department’s Undergraduate Education Committee. 2022-2023

Group coordinator for University of Washington: Engineering Discovery Days: Planned and managed interactive snow science demonstrations for visiting middle school students. 2018