Remote Sensing & LiDAR | PhD Candidate @ University of Alberta
Currently conducting a study at the University of Edinburgh (UOE)
Recent publication: Cankaya, E. C., & Radtke, P. J. (2025). Evaluating Local Calibration Methods for Improving Diameter Growth Predictions in the Southern Variant, Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS-Sn). Forest Science, 1-30.
📢 New!
My largest and most comprehensive project to date is now publicly accessible:
🚀 Explore the National Forest Inventory Dashboard (RShiny)
🛰️ Built with R Shiny • Hosted on Microsoft Azure
🌲 Visualizes multi-year national inventory datasets with interactive tools and dynamic analytics
This platform supports integrative forest management by leveraging geospatial data, remote sensing inputs, and advanced forest metric reporting—delivered in a responsive and intuitive web interface. The application was built from scratch using R, Leaflet, Plotly, and Docker for deployment.
- 🌲 Forest Growth Models (Tree allometry & Modeling)
- 🚁 LiDAR & Photogrammetry (Mobile-Handheld, UAV, Terrestrial Laser Scanners & Hyperspectral Cameras)
- 🛰️ Remote Sensing & GIS (Time-Series, Tree Species Classification)
- 🤖 ML for Forestry (Machine learning, forest inventory)
| Year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 🌐 Released: RShiny National Forest Inventory Dashboard — deployed on Microsoft Azure |
| 2025 | 🗣 Oral Presentation: ISCL: A New Algorithm for Individual Tree Detection from Lidar Point Clouds, Québec City, Québec |
| 2023 | 🏅 Best Poster Presentation Award at the 93rd Forest Industry Lecture Series (FILS), University of Alberta |
| 2021 | 📄 Using handheld mobile LiDAR in forest inventories: A case study from Artvin-Şavşat (Read) |
Selected works:
- Cankaya, E. C. (2025). ADVANCING FOREST LAND MONITORING IN ISTANBUL REGIONAL DIRECTORATE OF FORESTRY: INTEGRATING U-NET DEEP LEARNING. [PDF]
- Cankaya, E. C. (2021). Using handheld mobile LiDAR technology in forest inventories: A case study from Artvin-Şavşat. Forestry Research Journal.
- Copenheaver, C. A., et al. (2017). Dendroarchaeology reveals influence of early-European settlement…, USA.
- Cankaya, E. C. (2015). Forest Road Network Effect on Forest Fire…. COFE Meeting, Lexington, KY.
- …and more in national and international symposiums.
PhD Researcher & Teaching Assistant
📍 Edmonton, Canada • Jan 2023 – Present
- Forest growth and yield modeling using UAV & terrestrial LiDAR
- Teaching assistant across GIS, hydrology, and forest measurement courses
- Developer of interactive decision-support apps for forestry analytics
Remote Sensing & Forest Informatics Specialist
📍 Ankara, Turkey • May 2018 – Apr 2025
- Led national LiDAR-based forest inventory projects
- Integrated Sentinel-2, ALS, and multispectral data into forest planning models
- Developed forest dashboards with R Shiny and Python for strategic management