Carolina Drone Lab elevates environmental insights

UNC Research Stories sat down with Susan Cohen, associate director of the UNC Institute for the Environment and the founder of the Carolina Drone Lab, to learn more about her work and why hands-on research experiences are so important for students.

What is the main goal of your research?

Our mission is to provide tools and actionable information to the people managing and stewarding our natural resources. The pitch is simple: Come and do important field work and collect data, fly drones and help solve problems.

What’s a project you are working on now?

One is studying how the moisture content in the understory plants longleaf pine forests changes over time. This is a major factor for determining if and how a prescribed fire is set and then how it behaves. You’d be surprised by how that moisture changes hourly. This project uses remote sensing — when aerial sensors obtain data — but is really based on traditional on-the-ground field work. Fire managers and modelers want that information.

What are the biggest challenges in your research?

Funding is always the biggest challenge, but once we acquire that, it’s logistics and planning. Sometimes, we work in challenging conditions and do intensive fieldwork like wading through marsh muck or working in severe heat. And the drones have lots of rules and regulations, which can be difficult to navigate. For example, you have to be able to see the drone at all times, which is superhard in a forest. And batteries definitely don’t last long enough.

As UNC-Chapel Hill celebrates University Research Week, read more about Carolina’s research impact.

What’s the most surprising discovery your team has made recently?

We’re seeing some early data showing a clear difference in how certain sections of bunch grasses — plants that benefit from fire, which removes dead vegetation and stimulates new growth — hold moisture. Specifically, the leaves near the ground and the flowering parts higher up dry out at different rates and have noticeably different moisture levels. It might sound like a small detail, but it can have a big impact when it comes to how fire behaves.

If your research could solve one big problem, what would it be?

A big interest of mine is getting rid of invasive species in forest habitats. They destroy biodiversity and ecosystem function and cost a shocking amount of money to control.

What’s the coolest tool you use in the lab?

It is hard to deny that our big drones are pretty cool. Folks are familiar with the smaller ones that tend to be more widely owned, but our biggest, heavy lift drone makes an impression with its size and the noise it makes when flying. It sounds like a helicopter.

What do students gain from working with you?

Students are immediately exposed to teams collaborating on research projects and independent work addressing parts of a project. We talk about natural resource challenges and management a lot, so there is broad exposure to that world, from attending meetings with collaborators to organizing projects to translating data. And while we might not be able to take a student to the field, we always make sure there is plenty of drone flying, map making, and a chance to take their FAA Part 107 test to become a certified drone pilot.

Tells us how former students on your team are applying what they learned.

One is working with the Mojave Desert Land Trust to help identify conservation priorities and strategies to prioritize lands. Another is a graduate student who does remote sensing of surface water and ice. We’d like to think his love of technology for environmental work comes from his time with us!

Read more about Susan Cohen’s work.