Margarita Fernández, Ph.D.

Margarita Fernández, Ph.D.

  • Postdoctoral Scientist
  • Climate-Smart Forestry Assessment and Policy
224 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802

Areas of Expertise

  • Forestry
  • Forest Ecology and Management
  • Soil Ecology

Education

  • Ph.D. in Ecology, Pennsylvania State University (2023)
  • B.Sc. Forest Engineering (U.Na.M, Argentina, 2015)

Margarita is an ecologist studying carbon sequestration and co-benefits of climate-smart forestry in Pennsylvania's private forestlands. Her work with the Goddard Chair of Forestry & Environ. Conservation at Penn State aims to create solid cooperative research and extension deliverables (both in Spanish and English). She actively collaborates with Penn State Extension and NIACS.

A Fulbright Graduate scholarship (USA-Argentina) brought Margarita from Argentina to Pennsylvania in 2019. Her doctoral thesis was based in NW Patagonia (Río Negro, Argentina), examining controls of woodland management on soil biodiversity and carbon cycling in native woodland ecosystems. Before her Ph.D., Margarita worked on several silvicultural projects addressing forest growth, forest enrichment, and carbon sequestration in various land-use scenarios in the Atlantic Forest.