A message from Dan Brown, SEFS Director: Winter 2025-26
We’re only a few months into the school year and there has been much to celebrate and reflect on. In the fall we launched a new major, the Sustainable Bioresource Systems Engineering major which is the next iteration of the BSE major. As the circular economy, reuse, and sustainable deployment of bioresource materials pave the way for the future of paper and bioresource engineering, SEFS is making changes to lead the way and provide our students with a competitive degree in an increasingly competitive field.
SEFS students are being recognized for their research and achievements by the College of the Environment — in the fall it was announced that twenty SEFS undergraduate and graduate students were being awarded Dean’s Office Scholarships – a reason to celebrate our fantastic students.
We’ve also made a commitment to celebrating our alumni in the SEFS Alumni Spotlight series, so that we can share with all of you what our community’s grads are up to. Our graduates are out in the world doing incredibly impressive work. If you’re an alum looking to share your story with the next generation of environmental stewards, we recommend reaching out to our communications team.
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the construction and occupancy of Anderson Hall – and I’ve been reflecting on all that’s gone on inside this historic building. As a community of educators, students, scientists and support staff, SEFS has always been an evolving academic unit. Though we’ve never wavered from a focus on sustainable resource use and management, our early focus on forest conservation and restoration within an industrializing forest sector has evolved in response to issues and practices related to water quality, biodiversity, carbon, diversification of forest products, forest recreation and nature as a contributor to human health and well-being. As our understanding of and societal relationships with forests have evolved, so has our research and teaching.
Our current programs are responsive to student demand, are stronger than ever, and connect student interests with career pathways in the environmental and forest sciences. Since 1925 upwards of 9,000 graduates have walked through Anderson Hall and cemented their stewardship for the environment in its classrooms, with 3,349 of those undergraduate and graduate students having graduated from SEFS since 2005. It’s safe to say that interest in environmental and forest sciences has exploded in the last two decades.
As 2025 comes to a close and we prepare to welcome in a new year, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic. While we face difficult budget decisions that will likely continue into the new year, our students, faculty and researchers never cease to deliver on a positive vision for sustainable management of our natural resources. Wishing you all a peaceful holiday season and look forward to our continued work together in 2026.