Conor McMahon

Conor (he/him) applies remote sensing and other engineering tools to environmental questions and problems. His research interests include dryland and urban plant phenology, ecosystem drought responses, bioacoustics, and wildlife habitat modeling. In the Katz lab, he is using individual tree-scale satellite imagery to classify trees and track phenology and mortality patterns in urban areas across the eastern United States. Conor earned his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2026, studying water stress in dryland riparian woodlands. He received an MS in Mechanical Engineering and BS in Biology and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Conor spends most of his free time biking to parts unknown, listening to birds, looking at plants, or catching snakes. He also does his best to entertain his cat, Pandora, who is also fond of watching birds (but much to her rage, is not generally permitted to interact with them directly).