Travis Howell
I’ve been an NC State Forestry advocate since I first started here in 2010 when my focus was to work in procurement forestry. What has always drawn me to forestry is how it works hand in hand with technology, and how the right use of that technology can help production forestry. That’s carried into my day job as the UAS Team Lead at WSP USA, where we collaborate with geomatics and engineering teams across the country solving complex engineering and environmental problems. It also drives my research question: how can LiDAR tools give foresters both individual tree and stand level metrics they can trust?
My dissertation works through that question one step at a time. My first chapter, published in the Journal of Forestry Research (Cavalheiro et al. 2026), used ground based laser scanning to measure trees in a loblolly pine progeny test. My second chapter, which I presented at this year’s FPC Annual Meeting, tests drone LiDAR against felled loblolly pine trees at a Piedmont and a Coastal Plain site. It showed that height from the air is ready to use, but stem diameter accuracy under a closed canopy depends on basal area and canopy closure. My third chapter picks up there. I’m pairing SLAM LiDAR on the ground with the drone flights to map what the airborne sensor misses under the canopy.
A forester will always be needed, but my research shows where LiDAR scanners can help them make more informed decisions.
Outside of work and school, I enjoy spending time with my family and my two sons, who are 6 and 4. I hope to have one of them alongside me flying drones and processing LiDAR one day!
Publications and Presentations:
Cavalheiro, Ricardo & Molina-Valero, Juan & Hodge, Gary & Howell, Travis & Acosta, Juan. (2026). Extraction of genetic test measurements from LiDAR cloud data. Journal of Forestry Research. 37. 10.1007/s11676-026-02007-0.
Howell, T. (2026, August 5). Measuring individual trees with UAS LiDAR [Conference presentation]. Forest Productivity Cooperative Annual Meeting, Raleigh, NC, United States. See here.
Cheering on the Wolfpack with my boys and wife Ally.
Bodie (Four) and Wells (Six) at our farm.
