Mary Kelly

Projects Manager

Biography

I’m a lifelong Michigander and current graduate student (MS) at the University of Michigan studying ecosystem science and management and geospatial data sciences. I received my BS in Environmental Science and French from Northern Michigan University in 2024. My interests are generally centered on conservation/restoration in the context of forests and wetlands. For my master’s project, I am working within a team of 5 U-M students and our project partners at the Indigenous-led Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance to develop geospatial (GIS, R, Python) tools and advocate for federal policies that will enable Tribes in the Northern Great Plains region of the United States to prioritize lands for restoration and enhance wildlife connectivity.

I have been a CDL member since 2022. My CDL project compared spatial distributions of late-successional forests in coastal Oregon from pre-European settlement to present-day, integrating LANDFIRE data into GIS and R. Since progressing into a Mentor/Project Manager role, it’s been fun to see what everyone’s working on and to help guide the future of the CDL. When I do get free time, you can find me doing a number of things, including training for my next race (typically anything 5k - half marathon, but I’m becoming triathlon-curious), messing around in the kitchen, or reading.