Thesis Defense: Erika Knight!

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Next week on Thursday, May 9, round up your friends and colleagues to come support Erika Knight as she defends her Master’s Thesis! Her talk begins at 1 p.m. in Anderson 22, so join us in commemorating her years of work and research at SEFS.

Treatment Plot
One of Knight’s treatment plots at the Fall River Long-term Soil Productivity study site in western Washington.

Increasing demand for timber, as well as current interest in the use of woody biomass for energy and chemical production, may result in higher quantities of organic matter removed from plantation forests than currently occurs during harvesting. Knight’s thesis focuses on the potential of two practices that can increase the yield of woody biomass from a harvest site to change soil carbon and nitrogen storage:

1. Application of herbicides to control competing vegetation and improve crop tree growth; and
2. Removal of branches and foliage (slash) in addition to the bole during harvest.

She conducted her research in a 12-year-old Douglas-fir plantation at the Fall River Long-term Soil Productivity site in western Washington. She is part of Professor Rob Harrison’s soils lab, and her other committee members are Professors Darlene Zabowski and Dan Vogt.

Photo © Erika Knight.

Thesis Defense: John Simeone!

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Simeone Thesis Defense
An 18-wheeler carrying roundwood in Dalnerechensk, Russia.

SEFS graduate student John Simeone, who is working on a joint degree at the Jackson School of International Studies, will be defending his thesis for the latter program this coming Friday, May 3, at 10:30 a.m. in Anderson 22.

While the Russian forest sector languished for much of the first 15 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, beginning in 2007 the Russian government instituted a set of policies designed to develop and modernize the Russian forest sector. This thesis is a policy analysis of Russia’s 2007 and 2008 forest sector initiatives—principally export taxes on roundwood and investment subsidies for value-added processing.

If you can’t make this Friday’s defense, then keep an eye out for Simeone’s SEFS defense later in August. His faculty advisor is Professor Sergey Rabotyagov, and he is also working closely with Professor Ivan Eastin and CINTRAFOR on Russia’s role in the timber trade. Should be great stuff!

Photo © John Simeone.

Thesis Defense: Jesse Langdon!

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Jesse Langdon
Species turnover hot/cold spots.

Nothing gets the nervous/excited juices flowing like more faces in the crowd, so come out and support Jesse Langdon tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, April 24, as he defends his thesis, “Forecasting the impacts of climate change on terrestrial species and protected areas in the Pacific Northwest!”

Part of the Landscape Ecology and Conservation Lab, Langdon’s faculty advisor is Professor Josh Lawler, and his other committee members are Professor Steve West and Elizabeth Gray. He will be giving his talk in the Forest Club Room from 1-2 p.m., with snacks and refreshments provided.

It’s a great opportunity to support a fellow colleague and student, and to help commemorate his years of research and contributions to the SEFS community!