Graduate Programs

Julia Burton
(Mladenoff)
jiburton@wisc.edu

I am studying the effects of forest canopy gaps on biodiversity and ecosystem processes in understory vegetation, and the implications for the restoration of old-growth characteristics to younger second-growth northern hardwood-hemlock forests.

Dylan Dillaway
(Kruger)
dillaway@wisc.edu

I am studying the factors affecting the southern range limit of northern US tree species. Specifically I will be analyzing the effects of temperature and climate on the growth, physiological processes, carbon use efficiency, and fungal-tree interactions along a latitudinal gradient.

Jacob Dyer
(Gower, Lorimer)
jdyer@wisc.edu

I am studying the effects of experimental manipulation of forest structure via harvest created gaps on net primary productivity and stem biomass, with implications for sustainable forest management and "restoration" old-growth conditions within second-growth stands in northern hardwood forests.

Corey Halpin
(Lorimer)
chalpin@cs.wisc.edu

I'm examining techniques to validate the performance and accuracy of forest growth models, with particular emphasis on empirical individual-tree models.

Todd Hawbaker
(Radeloff)
tjhawbaker@students.wisc.edu

My interests are in understanding socially driven processes of landscape change, environment constraints limiting those processes, the resulting landscape patterns, and the implications for conservation. My current research examines patterns of road density in northern Wisconsin in both current and historical contexts related to housing density, land ownership, soil substrate, and land cover.

Steven Hubbard
(Bowe)
shubbard@students.wisc.edu

My research interests center on the study of forest products. Currently, I am developing a life-cycle inventory for hardwood flooring which will quantify and model all the inputs and outputs associated with wood flooring manufacture. A second aspect of my research is to explore continuous process improvement methodologies that may benefit our forest resources and manufacturing capabilities by identifying, and removing, sources of waste and inefficiency.

Adrian A. Lesak
(Radeloff)
lesak@wisc.edu

The title of my dissertation is "Changing patterns of rural residential development and land cover: implications for forest songbirds". The primary goal of my dissertation is to examine trends in songbird populations associated with housing growth and land cover change and identify the mechanisms driving them in the forests of Wisconsin.

Alexander Prishchepov
(Radeloff)
prishchepov@wisc.edu

I am interesting in land use land cover change analysis between 1991-2002 using remote sensing after falling down Soviet Bloc in Eastern Central Europe caused widespread agriculture abandonment due-to socio-economic changes(using Landsat and MODIS, especially last one, which allows to study rapid land cover change over vast areas). Besides remote sensing part, in my dissertation work I am going to analyze which driving forces over Central Eastern Europe caused agriculture abandonment, and how it varies and between different regions of ECE and FSU. Several scenarios will be developed to show potential situation in near future on land use land cover change in study areas a part of NASA-funded project "Post-USSR land cover change in Eastern Europe - socioeconomic forcings, effects on biodiversity, and future scenarios".

Mary Sisock
(Guries)
mlsisock@students.wisc.edu

Research in the human dimensions of forestry including forest tenure, landowners and communities.

Jennifer L. Stoffel (Martin)
(Gower)
jlmartin3@wisc.edu

I am studying the role of land-use change on forest soil carbon dynamics. Specifically, I will be examining how total soil carbon and its fractionations into aggregates differ under forests of different species. I will also be examining soil carbon fractionations, and soil respiration following gap treatments in the northern hardwood forests. I also have a strong interest in identifying how land-use change may cause shifts in forest soil microbial communities, specifically shifts in the ratio of fungi to bacteria.