Environmental Studies · Western Washington University
LASO Lab uses remote sensing, GIS and participatory mapping to bring into view the species living on farms, farmers’ own knowledge, and the barriers disabled people meet every day — working with the people concerned, on their terms.
Three threads, one in each letter of our name.
L
How farming and conservation share land — land-cover change, invasive species and agroecosystems, with a long-running focus on the Galápagos highlands and mainland Ecuador.
A
Mapping barriers, and barrier-free routes, together with disabled people — so maps reflect lived experience, not just building plans.
SO
The tools behind both: satellites, radar, drones, LiDAR and field data, processed in Google Earth Engine, R and GIS — and shared as open, bilingual tools.
Landscape · Spatial observation
A long-term observatory of the farming highlands of four inhabited islands, built with farmer families, USFQ, Heifer Ecuador and local partners: satellites and radar above the garúa, drones and field sampling below it.
Accessibility · Spatial observation
Participatory mapping of the WWU campus and the Sehome Hill Arboretum. Student teams audit entrances, automatic doors, sensory spaces and trail slopes, and write plain-text routes for screen-reader users.
We are recruiting a funded M.A. student in Environmental Studies for Fall 2027, in one of two tracks — the Galápagos and Ecuador, or accessibility and participatory mapping — or with your own spatial question. Undergraduates are welcome year-round.