• Professor, Natural Resoures; Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space

Research

Dr. Rock's research and publications have focused on remote sensing of vegetation, specifically on basic and applied research dealing with biophysical properties (pigment concentrations, anatomical characteristics, and moisture conditions) of leaves and their influence on reflectance features which may be remotely detected. He has been involved in vegetation discrimination and mapping of deciduous forest species in the eastern United States, spectral characterization and mapping of arid and semi-arid vegetation in the western United States, as well as assessment of state-of-health in coniferous vegetation using remotely sensed data, with emphasis on the use of high-spectral resolution data sets for this purpose.

Graduate Students

M.S. Students
	Martha Carlson
	Michael Gagnon
	Will Kessler
	Erica Lindgren
	Patricia McCarthy
PH.D. Students
	Peter Tardie
Alumni :: 2000-present
	Ryan Huntley	December 2005	M.S.
	James Burnett	May 2002	Ph.D.
	Jennifer Supple	September 2001	M.S.
	Stephen Hale	May 2001	Ph.D.
	Benjamin Sherman (co-chair)	December 2000	Ph.D.
	Petya Entcheva	September 2000	Ph.D.
	Stephen Najjar	May 2000	M.S.

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

• NR 426: Wood Science and Technology
• NR 782/882: Monitoring Forest Health

View Natural Resources undergraduate course descriptions
View Natural Resources graduate course descriptions

Selected Publications

Rock, B.N. and J. Albrechtová. 2003. Hyperspektralni dalkovy pruzkum Zeme novy prostredek pro monitorovani zdravotniho stavu lesa - Z mikroskopu do makroskopu. (Hyperspectral remote sensing: a new tool for Monitoring Forest Health - From the Microscope to the Macroscope.) [In Czech]. Vesmir, 83: 323-325. (Vesmir is the equivalent of Scientific American in the Czech Republic).

Entcheva, P., Rock, B.N., Martin, M., Neefus, C., Irons, J., and Albrechtova, J. 2004. The use of high spectral resolution airborne data for separation of initial damage in Norway spruce canopies. Intern. J. Remote Sensing, 25: 5557-5583.

Hale, S.R. and B. N. Rock. 2003. Impact of topographic normalization on land-cover classification accuracy. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 69(7): 785-791.

Rock, B.N. 2002. Oteplovani – realita ci fikce (Global warming – reality or fiction.) [In Czech]. Ziva 149: 53-56. (Ziva is a publication of the Czech Academy of Sciences).

Rock BN, Albrechtova J, Huntley R. 2002. Monitoring Norway spruce health in the Krusne hory from 1991 - 2001 using field spectral reflectance methods. Proceedings of the conference "10 Years of global change Research in the Czech Republic", October 22-25. Ostrava, Czech Republic. (In press).

Soukupová J, Rock, B.N., and Albrechtova, J. 2002. Spectral characteristics of lignin and soluble phenolics in the near infrared – a comparative study. Intern. J. Remote Sensing. 23, 3039-3055.

Albrechtová, J., Rock, B.N., Soukupová, J., Entcheva, P., Solcová, B., and Polák, T. 2001. Biochemical, histochemical, structural and reflectance markers of damage in Norway spruce from the krusné hory used for interpretation of remote sensing data. J. Forest Sci. 47: 26-33.

Evans, C.A., Abrams, E.D., Rock, B.N., and Spencer, S.L. 2001. Student/scientist partnerships: A teacher’s guide to evaluating the critical components. Am. Biol. Teacher. 63: 318-323.

Rock, B.N. (Editor). 2001. Preparing for a Changing Climate: New England Regional Overview of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. USGCRP Publication, 88pp.

Soukupová J, Rock, B.N., and Albrechtova, J. 2001. Comparative study of two spruce species in a polluted mountainous region. New Phytologist, 150: 133-145.

Soukupová J, Cvikrová M, Albrechtová J, Rock BN, and Eder J. 2000. Histochemical and biochemical approaches to the study of phenolic compounds and peroxidases in needles of Norway spruce (Picea Abies (l.) Karst.). New Phytologist 146, 403-414.

Moss, D.M., Rock, B.N., Bogle, A.L., and Bilkova, J. 1998. Anatomical evidence of the development of damage symptoms across a growing season in needles of red spruce from central New Hampshire . Environmental Experimental Botany, 39:247-262.

Ardo, J., Lambert, N., Henzlik, V., and Rock, B.N. 1997. Satellite-based estimations of coniferous forest cover changes: Krusne Hory, Czech Republic, 1972-1989. Ambio, 26:158-166.

Bubier, J.L., Rock, B.N. and Crill, P.M. 1997. Spectral reflectance measurements of boreal wetland and forest mosses. Journ. Geophysical Res. 102: 29,483-29,494.

Rock, B.N. and Lawless, J.G. 1997. The GLOBE Program: A source of datasets for use in global change studies. IGBP Global Change Newsletter, 29:15-17.

Rock, B.N. and Lauten, G.N. 1996. K-12th grade students as active contributors to research investigations. Journ. Science Educ. and Technology, 5:15-17.

Education

Selected Service Activities

• Initiated the Forest Watch Program, 1992
• First Senior Scientist for GLOBE, 1994-95
• Fulbright Faculty Scholar, 2001-2002
• GLOBE Science Ambassador for Europe, 2001-2002
• American Association of Petroleum Geologists Distinguished Lecturer, 1998-1999