As a graduate student in 1966, Armond Joyce traveled to Costa Rica to participate in an advanced research project involving the detailed measurements of vegetation on 46 forest sites. Aerial photography was taken of each site, the interpretation of which played an important role in Joyce's master's and doctoral research. More than 30 years later, Joyce, an adjunct associate professor of Geography from the University of New Orleans, was awarded a Fulbright grant to revisit the forest sites, determine how they had changed and collect socio-economic information relevant to land use modeling.

The research component of Joyce's grant involved comparing the 1966 data to more recent data gathered from satellite imagery of the same forest. Documentation of the composition of the forest three decades ago made it possible for Joyce and his host country colleagues to determine how the forest had changed and how the use of the land had evolved over the years. Determining patterns of land usage is important in the creation of models that predict how the forest will change in the future. Joyce and his colleagues worked at drawing connections between the social, economic and political changes in Costa Rica and the modifications in land use and preservation. Determining and revisiting the location of the undisturbed sites of the original 46 made it possible to target those areas for future collaborative research projects between the University of New Orleans and Joyce's host institutions. Joyce plans for continued collaboration with both of his faculty hosts, Dr. Edgar Oritz at the Technological Institute of Costa Rica and Dr. Carlos Quesada at the University of Costa Rica.

In addition to working directly with the students and faculty at the University of Costa Rica and at the Technological Institute of Costa Rica in the interpretation of data from satellite imagery, Joyce taught courses in the use of satellite remote sensing for environmental monitoring