Michael Allen, PhD

Michael Allen's work experience begins in 2014 when they worked as an Environmental Data Analyst at Vigor, LLC. Michael then moved on to Western University in 2015 where they worked as a Research Assistant and Instructor, teaching classes in meteorology, climate, and physical geography. During their time at Western University, they received teaching awards in 2016 and 2017.

In 2017, Michael Allen joined UC Santa Barbara as a Research Assistant and Instructor. Michael used various software and programming tools to process and interpret geospatial and environmental datasets. As an Instructor, they taught courses in applied science, remote sensing, and environmental data analysis. Michael was nominated for the Graduate Teaching Award in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

In 2019, Michael Allen worked as a SARP Graduate Research Mentor at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration for a brief period of two months.

Since 2021, Michael Allen has been working at Ursa Space Systems. Michael initially worked as a Data Scientist, where they developed and deployed geospatial analytics using physical models, applied statistics, and machine learning techniques, with a particular focus on spaceborne SAR data. Michael also led the Change Detection technical area.

Currently, at Ursa Space Systems, Michael Allen holds the role of Data Science Team Manager, starting from September 2022.

Michael Allen completed their Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at the University of Portland from 2011 to 2015. Michael then pursued a Master of Science (MS) degree in Geography at Western University from 2015 to 2017. Afterward, Michael went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Geography from UC Santa Barbara, which they completed from 2017 to 2021.