Michael Dorman is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research explores the response of planted pine forests to changing climate through remote sensing and dendrochronology. He uses R extensively for time series and spatial statistical analyses and visualization. In spring 2013, he prepared and taught a course named Introduction to Programming for Spatial Data Analysis at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, introducing R as an environment for spatial data analysis to undergraduate Geography students. The course material served as a foundation for this book.

Michael holds a Master's degree in Life Sciences from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a Bachelor's degree in Plant Sciences in Agriculture from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has authored or coauthored eight papers in scientific literature and actively participated in 18 scientific conferences.