Potential career paths for students with a bachelor's degree in Forest Ecosystem Management.
Professional foresters are challenged with managing renewable forest resources and landscapes to improve the quality of our environment in our ever-changing society. Check out these profiles of our alumni and professional foresters.
Tracey Coulter’s unique Penn State experience led her from watershed management to helping landowners in the DCNR’s private rural and community forestry sector.
Robert Lusk is a forester with PA DCNR, serving as the Southern Area Assistant Forest Health Specialist. He is responsible for conducting field work such as early detection beetle trapping, gypsy moth egg mass surveys, hemlock wooly adelgid population surveys, and other surveys to monitor insect and disease fronts that pose a threat to forest health. He is also involved in the planning, design, and implementation of different treatment activities including stem injections, soil injections, and spraying from rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. He is responsible for aerial survey flights to monitor defoliation and other tree damage that may be occurring in his region (15 counties).
Derald Hay negotiates contracts and advises clients during transactions, managing legal risk and maximizing business potential to reach goals in environmentally and financially sustainable ways.
Andy Finley uses Bayesian statistical modeling and high-performance computing to develop new understanding of ecosystems and how they change.
Brian Crooks is a Community Forester for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in Pittsburgh, PA. The major aspect of his job is to implement tree planting projects for the Pittsburgh component of TreeVitalize, which is a statewide program funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to increase tree canopy in urban areas. Brian works with foresters from the city and TreePittsburgh to review applications, collect and manage data, select and source plant material, conduct tree planting site preparation, and orchestrate volunteer tree plantings. He also supports other community forestry projects, which currently include strip mine reclamation within Allegheny County, ecological inventories of the county parks, street tree inventories for other municipalities, and parking lot rain gardens.
Jamie Dahl's job is to make sure natural resources students have exposure to hands-on experience.
Forest hydrologists work with water and water related topics in the forest.
Tiffany Roddy has been a Forester with Weyerhaeuser Company in Eugene, Oregon, since the Monday after her baccalaureate degree graduation. She manages early-rotation silviculture on approximately 90,000 acres. Some projects she is currently responsible for include planting, aerial spray, and fire protection.
Rolf Gubler (Forest Science, 1988; Wildlife Science, 1988) is a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park.
Hunter Stauffer is learning the ins and outs of the timber industry in St. Marys, PA.
Celine Colbert is a service forester with Pennsylvania’s DCNR. Many service foresters focus on assisting private woodland owners, but she has a unique position that focuses on urban and community forestry. She helps municipalities and community groups across six counties establish and maintain shade tree programs, and teaches individuals to properly plant and care for shade trees.
Herbert White is the Urban Forest Administrator for the City of Wilmington, Delaware
A Penn State graduate with a degree in Forest Science, Terra Dillman became a Watershed Specialist for the Tioga County Conservation District. Discover why Terra majored in Forest Science and learn about her job and career path.
