Abnova Ecological Solutions is owned and operated by Ecologist, Dr. Michael Curran.  Mike is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) and Certified Wildlife Biologist (CWB).  He received both the top M.S. and top Ph.D. Student Award in the country by the American Society of Reclamation Sciences upon completing his graduate degrees.  He developed techniques to improve reclamation & restoration monitoring which not only improve data quality, but also reduce field time by 10-40x (depending on if handheld or drone imagery is used).  He also pioneered the use of spatially-explicit dashboards to rapidly report reclamation monitoring results, allowing for informed decision making and easy-to-interpret data.  Mike worked with 26 oil & gas companies in reporting reclamation and restoration data to the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Conservation Efforts Database prior to the 2015 Endangered Species Act listing decision of the Greater sage-grouse and was acknowledged by the USFWS for the importance of his contributions.  He has experience transitioning the reclamation monitoring and reporting techniques he developed to conservation bank monitoring.  Mike has experience developing reclamation plans which go beyond satisfying regulatory criteria towards restoring food webs and creating pollinator and wildlife habitat.  Aside from holding a PhD in Ecology, Mike has a Master’s degree in Rangeland Ecology & Watershed Management and a Graduate Minor in Statistics.  Prior to graduate school, Mike worked in documentary video with experience covering social and environmental issues.  After graduate school, he took a post-doc research position in Mississippi studying how drones can be used to monitor wildlife and then worked at a large plant nursery in New Jersey, growing and selling native plants to restore ecosystem services in suburban landscapes.  Dr. Curran has given workshops or been a presenter at over 65 conferences or symposia throughout the United States and Canada.  He is Editor of Reclamation Matters, and Associate Editor for Natural Areas Journal and Reclamation Sciences. Mike has been an ocean lifeguard since 2002 and is a member of the Southern Monmouth After-Hours Rescue Team (S.M.A.R.T.) for open water emergencies as well as a volunteer First-Responder with the Wall Community First Aid Squad. He enjoys ocean sports, road & mountain biking, the outdoors, and traveling.