Jon Detka

Jon Detka

Senior Pilot

jdetka@ucsc.edu

Jon leads the flight operations, planning, and reporting for the CIDER team conducting aerial surveys of 60,000 acres across six California State Parks. Jon also supports drone instruction as part of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funded project, “Cultivando Lideres: A regional partnership for training and serving diverse students in agroecology, justice, and equity,” led by Professor Stacy Philpot, with Becca Fenwick as co-PI.

Jon recently completed his Ph.D. in environmental studies at UCSC. He earned his B.S. in Earth systems – science and policy from California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and M.S. in organismal biology and ecology from San Jose State University. Previously, he worked as an undergraduate science educator, consulting biologist, and educational designer working in collaboration with agency managers, researchers, educators, and the public. He has been actively involved in the propagation, restoration, and monitoring of protected plant species in the California central coast region. As an adjunct faculty member at CSUMB, he used the local environment as a context for the teaching and learning of ecology and statistics.