Zachary Brecheisen received B.A. degree from New Mexico State University, New Mexico, USA, in 2012, and the Ph.D. from Duke University, North Carolina, USA, in 2018. He is a “critical-zonist” interested in how ecosystems respond to human disturbance, especially agriculture and old-field succession. He pairs remote sensing with field observations to enhance soils and forestry investigations. His academic training from undergraduate (NMSU) through graduate school (Duke University) into Postdoctoral Research (Purdue University) has been cross-disciplinary with collaborators from earth sciences, social sciences, and the humanities via the critical zone observatory network and the Arequipa Nexus Institute, Purdue University. His research includes land-cover classification, geomorphic terrain analyzes, gas chromatography, 3-D printing, x-ray computed tomography, and data logging environmental sensors.