DE ALBA MARTINEZ, HUGO

Research professor at the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO). He holds a degree in Environmental Engineering from the same institution, a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science from Birkbeck, University of London, and a Ph.D. in Geography and Land Use Planning from the University of Guadalajara. His professional experience includes predictive analysis of deforestation and land use change in the Brazilian Amazon, assessment of ecosystem services in urban micro-watersheds, and ecological restoration of forest plots affected by wildfires. He has worked as a geographic information analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London and served as technical advisor and GIS coordinator for the Climate Change Action Plan of the State of Jalisco (focused on forestry and land use change). He has also contributed to the development of methodologies for quantifying carbon sinks in Protected Natural Areas of the Sierra Madre Oriental. He is currently a collaborator in the international project EMBRACE-OCE-Growth, funded by the National Science Foundation, which aims to reconstruct the frequency and magnitude of Holocene hurricanes through sediment analysis along the coasts of Jalisco and Nayarit. He has been a member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers since 2020. His research interests include spatial analysis, remote sensing, ecosystem services, paleoclimate reconstruction, and ecological restoration.