Tricia Gorby Knoot is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Dr. Mark Rickenbach in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tricia is working on two main research projects: 1) exploring the link between social network structure and fiber production, water quality, and landscape-scale management in Northern Wisconsin; and 2) investigating the effects of operational constraints in forestry on forest owner decision-making.
Tricia recently completed her Ph.D., majoring in Forestry, in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. As an EPA STAR (Science to Achieve Results) Fellow, her doctoral research focused on identifying social, economic, and ecological constraints and opportunities to oak conservation and restoration in the Driftless Area of the Midwest. This interdisciplinary project afforded her the opportunity to synthesize and integrate ecological and social science datasets and methods through the use long-term regional forest surveys, qualitative in-depth interviews with stakeholders, and GIS technology. Tricia completed her M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Iowa State University in 2004 and her B.S. in Zoology and Biological Aspects of Conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997.
Tricia is married to John Knoot and they have a daughter, Aysha, and son, Kai. She enjoys hiking, birding, photography, gardening, cooking, and exploring the outdoors with her kids. Tricia grew up on a lake in southeastern Wisconsin.