Michael Hamilton is an ecologist, conservation biologist, and resident director of the University of California’s James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve, located in the San Jacinto Mountains of southern California. His research and professional activities include: data management infrastructure for biological field stations, embedded networked sensing of organisms and ecosystems, geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing for studies of conservation, risk assessment, and planning. He is one of the founders and currently scientific advisor for the Society for Conservation GIS, an organization with 500 members worldwide that trains and supports academic and NGO professionals involved in nature protection and conservation biology using remote sensing and GIS technologies.