Cindy Mendes, a PhD candidate in Forest Engineering at the Santa Catarina State University, Center for Agroveterinary Sciences (UDESC/CAV), has started her doctoral research internship at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. She will remain at the institution from February to July, developing part of her doctoral research in the fields of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and forest conservation.
Her stay is funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), through the Institutional Doctoral Sandwich Program Abroad (PDSE), Call No. 17/2025, Process No. 23038.005551/2025-02.
In Brazil, Cindy is supervised by Prof. Dr. Veraldo Liesenberg. During her period at ITC, her research is being co-supervised by Prof. Dr. Raian V. Maretto, strengthening international collaboration in geospatial methods applied to the monitoring of forest ecosystems.
Cindy’s research project is entitled “Detection of Endemic Tree Species of the Atlantic Forest Using Drones, Multiplatform Remote Sensing, and Artificial Intelligence.” The project focuses on the individual detection of Araucaria angustifolia, an endemic tree species of the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest, one of the forest formations within the Atlantic Forest biome. The species has high ecological, economic, and cultural importance, but it has historically been subjected to intense exploitation and is currently threatened with extinction.
In addition to its relevance for biodiversity, Araucaria angustifolia plays an important role in forest structure and in the maintenance of carbon stocks. However, projections indicate that its area of occurrence may decrease under future global warming scenarios, highlighting the need for efficient strategies for its monitoring and conservation.
In this context, the project aims to develop robust Deep Learning models for detecting the species from high-resolution aerial imagery acquired by drones and other remote sensing platforms. The research explores approaches based on Convolutional Neural Networks and Vision Transformers, with the goal of recognizing visual and spectral patterns of Araucaria angustifolia across different landscape contexts, including forest, urban, and grassland areas.
During her stay at ITC, Cindy aims to deepen her knowledge of artificial intelligence applied to remote sensing, improve the methodology of her doctoral research, and expand scientific exchange with researchers from different fields. The experience also represents an opportunity for international academic development, strengthening research networks, and gaining new perspectives for her career as a researcher.
I am very happy about this unique opportunity. Being at ITC represents an international experience of great importance for my academic development, especially in such a renowned institution in the geospatial field. In addition to contributing directly to the advancement of my research, this period has been helping me grow as a researcher and giving me the opportunity to connect with highly relevant professionals and researchers.
Cindy’s visit to ITC was celebrated by her research group at UDESC, you can check it here (in Portuguese)."