Jeff Atkins is a Research Biologist with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station at the Savannah River Site. Prior to coming to the Forest Service in 2021, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Dr. Atkins received his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia with a focus on ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, and remote sensing. He is a strong advocate for open science and works closely with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) as both a NEON Ambassador and a member of NEON’s Remote Sensing Algorithm Design working group. 

Dr. Atkins’s research interests include the spatiotemporal evolution of forest structure and diversity as a function of disturbance mechanisms—specifically focusing on moderate severity disturbance and co-occurring disturbances; development and application of statistical methods for use with remote sensing data (e.g., terrestrial, air-, and spaceborne lidar; UAV, hyperspectral); exploring connections between forest structure/structural complexity and forest function (e.g., microclimate regulation, productivity, resistance/resilience).