Tag: Forest Science

“My unexpected doctoral journey at Michigan Technological University began in June 2022, when I transferred from New York to continue my research under the guidance of Dr. Steve Voelker. This transition was driven by my commitment to an ambitious project I began a year earlier, focused on reconstructing climate variability in the Lake Superior region and understanding large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns across North America.

Over the past four years, my research has taken me to numerous lakes and creeks throughout Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where, with the support of Dr. Voelker and a dedicated team of undergraduate and graduate students, we have collected thousands of submerged white pine samples preserved underwater for centuries.

Following previous evidence suggesting that white pines growing in specific locations across this region could be highly sensitive to climate, our project aims to determine whether carbon and oxygen stable isotopes in annual growth rings of white pine trees can be used to reliably reconstruct both winter climate conditions along the southern shores of Lake Superior and atmospheric circulation patterns across North America over the past 500 years.

The data we have collected have also enabled us to investigate the effect of Lake Superior on local and regional climate, and how this translates into tree stable isotope variability both spatially and among species. Beyond reconstructing climate, our data have enabled analyses of white pine long-term population dynamics, shedding light on the drivers of white pine fluctuations over centuries.

This research has been made possible through Dr. Steve Voelker’s vision and successful securing of NSF funding, critical financial support from the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, and Michigan Tech’s Finishing Fellowship, which will support the completion of my dissertation during the Fall 2025 semester.”

“I began at Michigan Tech in 2021 as an MS student in Forest Ecology and Management. I entered with an interest in belowground interactions between plants and microbes, and this morphed into investigating trade-offs that shape how trees forage for resources underground. These trade-offs in root morphological and chemical traits directly relate to how effectively they can find and uptake water and nutrients in different (and possibly changing) environments, as well as carbon release from roots to the atmosphere. These relationships between the carbon and nutrient budgets of trees, their productivity, and carbon released from forest ecosystems allowed us to ask bigger picture questions about how climate warming might affect forest productivity and carbon feedbacks to the atmosphere.

This research project quickly became ~quite large~ and expanded into a PhD to allow me to incorporate potential root acclimation responses to temperature when planted in different environments, a question also critical for adaptive assisted population migration. Finally, I came full circle to my original interest by being able to investigate how the surrounding root fungal communities may interact with root foraging strategies through synergistic or complementary mechanisms.

I am incredibly grateful for my time here at Michigan Tech, especially in our supportive and close-knit department (College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, CFRES), and am excited to pursue these last questions during my final semester. I am very thankful to the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for giving me the ability to focus on my research and completing my dissertation this Fall. I would also like to thank my advisors, Dr. Molly Cavaleri and Dr. Andrew Burton, for their support and encouragement along the way; I would not be here completing a PhD without their positive influence. Lastly, I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Carsten Külheim and Dr. Tristy Vick-Majors for much guidance, as well as my labmates and fellow graduate students in CFRES for their support.”

“Growing up in Vietnam, I learned early on that forests are more than just collections of trees. They are living systems that sustain communities, hold cultural knowledge, and provide resilience in the changing climate. This understanding shaped my path and brought me to Michigan Technological University’s College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, where I have spent the past four years pursuing a PhD in Forest Science.

My dissertation examines how bridging Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Western Science can enhance forest ecosystem resilience and community well-being in the face of climate change. In partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, I have had the opportunity to learn from Ojibwe knowledge holders while contributing to community-directed research that centers Indigenous sovereignty and reciprocal collaboration.

During my time at Michigan Tech, I have been honored to serve as a research assistant, teaching assistant, and a mentor to eight graduate and undergraduate students in research design and academic writing. These experiences have deepened my commitment to fostering inclusive academic spaces where diverse knowledge systems are recognized and respected.

I am deeply grateful to the Graduate School and the Dean’s Advisory Panel for awarding me the Finishing Fellowship, which provides vital support as I complete my PhD this fall. My heartfelt thanks go to my wonderful co-advisors, Dr. Chelsea Schelly and Dr. Valoree Gagnon. I am so lucky to have you as my advisors. I am equally grateful to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources and Forestry Departments for their partnership and trust in this collaborative work. I would like to extend my thanks to my committee members, my collaborators, the faculty and staff of College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture, the Tribal Landscape System, the Ecosystem Science Center, the Great Lakes Research Center, and the Graduate Student Government for their support throughout my degree. ”

I began my work at Michigan Tech in 2020 as a PhD student in Dr. Andy Burton’s lab. I joined his lab to work on the FACE Wood Decomposition Experiment, a long-term ecological research project studying the movement of carbon from decomposing wood into soil and the atmosphere. I came from a background in entomology and community ecology, and was so excited to broaden my experiences working on biogeochemistry. From the first time I met Dr. Burton and visited Houghton, I knew this was where I wanted to get my advanced degree.

In my time here at Michigan Tech, I have had the opportunity to travel the country, work with collaborators from multiple universities as well as the US Forest Service, learn cutting edge molecular genetics techniques, present my research at national conferences, and make some amazing friends. I’ve learned how to cross-country ski, how to teach ecology to classes of undergraduates, and how to analyze complex community data. I know all these experiences and more that I’ve had here will serve me well in my future career.

I am profoundly grateful to the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for this finishing fellowship, which will allow me to focus completely on my analysis and writing in the spring semester. I would also like to thank Dr. Burton, Dr. Külheim, Dr. Marcarelli, and Dr. Hersch-Green for all their support as my committee throughout my time here at Michigan Tech, and to thank the students in the forest genetics lab for all their help. Science is always a collaborative effort, and I am so grateful to have such dedicated and passionate collaborators.

I have been a passionate naturalist, ecologist, and all-around biodiversity aficionado since age 5. Through my ecological consulting firm, Biophilia LLC, I am changing how we manage ecosystems by focusing on often neglected species that are our best ecosystem indicators. I have peer-reviewed publications in herpetology, lichenology, botany, ornithology, and entomology and am currently finishing my Ph.D. at Michigan Technological University, where I am researching a rare habitat called Granite Bedrock Glades. It’s a unique habitat with a warm microclimate and contains several unique species that occur far north of their usual range, including a lizard and two species of cacti! I am grateful for the amazing opportunity I had to conduct the field work for my dissertation in the spectacular Huron Mountains. Many thanks to the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for granting me this award and to my advisor Dr. David Flaspohler for his support.

I joined Michigan Tech as a PhD student during the winter of 2020 working with my advisor, Dr. Kristin Brzeski, and the National Park Service to track wolves and monitor their genetic health through the use of molecular tools. I was immediately drawn to this project as my research interests surround the use of molecular tools and application of evolutionary theory to make informed wildlife management decisions.

My dissertation utilizes a variety of molecular tools to understand the health of a recently introduced population of wolves on Isle Royale National Park and wolves in the western Great Lakes Region. To accomplish this, I optimized a set of molecular markers that will help track the number of wolves occupying Isle Royale as well as the level of inbreeding within the population. With this information we can better understand the health of the wolf population through time and if interventions may be necessary. Further, through work focused on the Great Lakes Region, we have found the most recently recolonized wolf populations (Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) have the poorest genetic health, emphasizing the importance of maintaining wolf migration between states to alleviate these effects.

Since I first arrived at Michigan Tech, I have had the opportunity to learn many new skill sets ranging from technical molecular methods to communicating scientific information to broad audiences. I cannot thank my advisor, my committee, fellow graduate students, and staff for their guidance, help, and training throughout my PhD journey. Last, I would like to thank the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for awarding me the finishing fellowship.