College of Forestry « At Oregon State University

One important task of the College of Forestry’s Office of International Programs is connecting Oregon State students with hands-on learning experiences abroad. This includes internships that provide educational opportunities and practical experience for students.

Shelby Knight, a natural resources student at Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, gained all of this and more during an internship experience in Chile.

“From a professional-development perspective, I learned how to better navigate language and cultural barriers. I improved my understanding and use of the Spanish language and learned about the Chilean culture.”

Growing up in Central Oregon, Knight fell in love with natural resources, but was never sure exactly what she wanted to pursue as a field of study or career.

“I love that the natural resources major is broad, diverse and offers opportunities to explore different aspects of the natural sciences,” she says. “Since coming to OSU Cascades, I’ve become interested in the interface between humans, human development and ecosystems.”

Through her involvement in the Natural Sciences Club at OSU Cascades, Knight met other students who participated in study abroad opportunities.

“I had no idea that this was even a possibility for me as a Cascades student, and I began to look for opportunities to go abroad through OSU,” Knight says.

She found and applied for a short term, faculty-led study abroad opportunity in Chile. During the application process, she learned about the option to stay behind after the experience to complete an internship.

“I loved the idea of staying in Chile for a longer period of time,” she says. “I chose to intern with Huilo Huilo Biological Reserve because they had a relationship with OSU, and their eco-tourism and conservation model really interested me. Plus, it looked like the most beautiful place to spend two months – and it was.”

Knight worked in the excursions department of the biological reserve where she helped deliver environmental, cultural and outdoor education to guests. She also tracked and mapped ‘illegal’ trails within the reserve, assisting Huilo Huilo with their trail interpretation plan, which will help the organization develop replanting and recovery strategies for illegal trails.

Knight also helped develop a nature-driven children’s program for the Reserve’s called Los Pequeños Exploradores or The Tiny Explorers. This experience inspired Knight to pursue research abroad after graduation.

“I learned a lot about myself by entering an unfamiliar situation,” she says. “I can’t wait to keep learning and exploring.”

Residents of the Western United States are living in a time of change. The forest is stressed from high tree densities, drought, and insect and disease outbreaks. The forest landscape neither looks nor functions as it did before fire suppression efforts began more than a century ago.

In 2017, Oregon experienced one of the worst wildfire seasons on record with more than 700,000 acres burned across the State resulting in ecological, social and economic damage. These damages cost the state of Oregon millions of dollars each year and billions across the nation.

Our forests need help

Oregon State researchers and extension agents have emphasized the need for viable forest management practices to help mitigate the risks and impacts of high-intensity and high-severity fire events.

Enter Daniel Leavell, Klamath and Lake County extension agent and Carrier Berger, extension associate and program coordinator for the Northwest Fire Science Consortium.

Their goal is to affect change when it comes to the unique and complicated nature of wildfire.

The pair are planning a comprehensive way to address fire in Oregon. It’s called the Fire Program. The team believes a sound fire program uses science as a foundation to provide education and outreach to the public, leading to the promotion and strategic use of cross-boundary, landscape-scale restoration and wildfire riskreduction projects.

Getting the work done

A successful fire program works to achieve the goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, which encourages resilient landscapes, fire adapted communities, and safe and effective wildfire response.

Local partnerships are key, including one with the nonprofit group, Klamath-Lake Forest Health Partnership (KLFHP). KLFHP is working with the fire program to implement sound, science-based management across ownership boundaries in Klamath and Lake Counties.

“We collaborated across ownership boundaries to implement forest health treatments,” Leavell says.

“This creates seamless, healthy forest landscapes resilient to disturbance while working with partners to implement work on the ground across private and public lands to achieve objectives.”

Leavell hopes other individuals and communities use this as a model and modify it to meet the needs of their local circumstances.

What’s next?

Leavell and Berger are seeking funding to support the statewide Fire Program. “People are really grabbing onto the concept of this program and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Berger says. “Funding would bolster the program and help us get work done on the ground through our landscape efforts.”

Leavell agrees and believes that partnerships are key in successfully bringing the program to life.

“Oregon State University’s work in this area is critical,” Leavell says. “Together with homeowners, landowners, and land managers (public and private), we can make a real difference and affect management changes that impact the health of our forests and communities.”

Oregon State University is one of two sites for the Wood-Based Composites Center (WBC), an industry and university cooperative research center funded by the National Science Foundation. The other is Virginia Tech University. The two institutions work with academic and industry partners to advance the science and technology of wood-based composite materials. The center completed a number of research projects in FY 2017 and FY 2018 that will lead to wood product innovations and improved performance.

Micron level 3D visualization of adhesive bonds in wood products

For the first time, researchers achieved a true characterization of the micro-structure of adhesive bonds in wood.

Laminated wood products, like glulam beams and plywood, rely on the integrity of adhesive bonds that are only a few microns thick. Adhesives penetrate the porous structure of wood. This project asked the question, ‘does the extent of penetration affect mechanical performance of the final product?’

Fred Kamke, director of WBC and JELD-WEN Chair of Wood-Based Composites Science, says the goal of the project was to observe how adhesive bonds perform when subjected to mechanical loads and moisture, focusing on the analysis on the adhesive bond.

Richardson Chair in Wood Science and Forest Products, John Nairn, created a mathematical model to predict mechanical performance of an adhesive bond based on its microstructure. Kamke and his graduate students collected the 3D microstructure data and used micro and nano x-ray-computed tomography to create 3D digital models of adhesive bonds. While wood is an extremely porous structure that readily absorbs adhesives, the researchers found that as much as 50 percent of the adhesive that penetrates the cell lumens may not contribute to bond strength. However, penetration of adhesive into the cell wall helps to stabilize the bond against the effects of moisture.

“Cell wall penetration improves the moisture durability,” Kamke says. “With this information, adhesive companies can improve their formulations and create adhesives to be engineered for a particular application, saving money for the manufacturers and improving performance of the products.”

Natural formaldehyde emissions from wood

Some adhesives, such as ureaformaldehyde, emit low levels of formaldehyde over their lifetime as they slowly decompose. Modern adhesive formulations and test protocols ensure these levels fall within the acceptable federal guidelines. However, as formaldehyde detection technology improves, the adhesive industry faces pressure to reduce formaldehyde emission levels.

Kamke says there are still many unanswered questions about formaldehyde.

“People wonder if formaldehyde is in their house,” he says. “Can it cause us harm? How much formaldehyde is OK? How low should emissions be? Although we don’t know have all of the answers to these questions, government regulations still need to be met.”

What researchers do know is that many substances, including human bodies, other animals and natural materials like wood, emit low levels of formaldehyde naturally.

Chip Frazier, Virginia Tech professor of sustainable biomaterials, wanted to learn exactly how much formaldehyde pure, natural, virgin wood does emit. The tests showed how formaldehyde levels in different wood species are affected by temperature change, and what formaldehyde levels are derived from wood itself.

“This data establishes a baseline level of source formaldehyde from wood, and will likely have a significant impact on future federal indoor air quality policy and the future of wood-based composite products, because just particleboard and fiberboard production alone is a $1.6 billion industry in the United States,” Kamke says. “This study and the resulting policy changes will have impacts on everyone involved in bonding wood with adhesives, and will have a positive impact on future indoor air quality across America.”

Outreach work continues

The WBC continues to educate the public through traditional classroom and online short courses. Seven online courses were added in 2016.

Kamke says the most popular is a basic course on wood adhesives that’s been running for 15 years.

“Our plan is to add more online courses,” Kamke says. “Enrollment is growing, and we are proud to continue to educate the producers and the public about the wonderful world of wood-based composites.”

Oregon State University College of Forestry Ph.D. Student Pipiet Larasatie doesn’t have her head stuck in her books. She’s a serious learner and researcher, of course, but she’s not just concerned with her own projects. Instead, she’s working hard to make the college community and industry setting more open and inclusive for all.

She began working toward this goal in her home country of Indonesia. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she served as a civil servant in the forestry service and helped develop rural areas for ecotourism opportunities.

After earning her master’s degree in New Zealand, Larasatie was awarded a prestigious scholarship from the Indonesian government – the opportunity to earn a Ph.D. anywhere in the world, as long as the program was highly ranked.

Larasatie chose Oregon State.

“I came here because I wanted to work with Eric Hansen, who now serves as department head of Wood Science and Engineering,” Larasatie says. “All I knew about Oregon State was that Eric was here, and that he has expertise in forest products marketing and innovation, and that’s what I wanted to study.”

Hansen responded to Larasatie’s inquiry about the wood science graduate degree program quickly, despite the 14-hour time difference. “I knew that because he was responsive, it would be easy to build a relationship with him,” Larasatie says.

And it was. Luckily, Larasatie likes living in Corvallis as well.

Since arriving in 2016, Larasatie has already completed one research project about the Pacific Northwest’s public perception of mass timber buildings. What started as a class project became a peer reviewed, published research study, funded by the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, and a presentation to conference participants worldwide.

Larasatie enjoys presenting her work to scientists, industry partners and even members of the public.

“I believe that science should be communicated,” she says. “I don’t want to write a dissertation that only lives in a library archive somewhere. We need to reach a broader audience. We need to let the public know what we’re doing. We shouldn’t limit ourselves, especially because of the digital age we live in now.”

To emphasize this, Larasatie serves as a digital communication coordinator for the Society of Wood Science and Technology and participates in the steering committee for the Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium, hosted at Oregon State each spring.

“I campaign to my fellow graduate students to get them involved as well,” she says. “I really believe that we all need to practice communicating our science.”

Larasatie also serves on the College of Forestry Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which strives to make the college a diverse and welcoming environment.

“I felt that participating was the right thing to do,” she says. “It also relates to my dissertation topic.”

Larasatie’s dissertation is still in the research phase. She’s studying gender diversity in the forest sector, in the industry and in higher education.

“Increasing gender diversity is no longer a right thing to do, but becomes a smart thing to do,” she says.

Larasatie’s dream is to become a university professor.

“I like to do research, I like to teach, and I like to mentor young students,” she says. “I also like the university setting. Oregon State, for example, is a hub for international people coming in to reach their dreams. We all have the same goal: to make life better.”

Earning an advanced degree
The Oregon State College of Forestry enjoys a century-long reputation as a leader in forestry research, teaching and extended education. Currently the college has more than 200 graduate students, including 35 international students from all over the world. The college offers graduate degrees in four distinct areas administered by three separate departments. About 75 faculty members teach at the graduate level, and the college employs more than 300 faculty, staff and support personnel.

Graduate degrees offered include Master of Forestry (MF), Master of Science (MS), Master of Natural Resources (MNR) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

FOREST ECOSYSTEMS + SOCIETY – MF, MS, PH.D.
The forest ecosystems and society graduate program develops interdisciplinary thinkers, highly capable scientists and natural resource leaders who are prepared to solve complex problems wherever they exist on the socioecological spectrum.

Students in this program learn to identify and contribute to collaborative solutions in ecology and natural resources-related social science. Students are not limited by mandated curriculum or required study tracks. Instead, faculty and professionals work with students to create their own course lists, program objectives and research projects, allowing students to focus on the skills and knowledge most relevant to their interests.

Students may earn an MF, MS or Ph.D. as they build the skills and knowledge needed for a fascinating career in research, teaching, management policy or outreach.

MASTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES – MNR
The master of natural resources graduate program is an interdisciplinary program designed for natural resources professionals. The 45-credit program is taught entirely online through the nationally-acclaimed OSU Ecampus. The program is offered as a nonthesis option only, similar to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or MF.

Students in the program develop analytical and problem-solving skills needed to provide workable solutions for complex natural resources challenges and learn how to balance competing economic, health and environmental interests.

Graduates of this program enjoy virtually unlimited career opportunities in natural resources management, ranging from GIS experts and water conflict managers to wildlife habitat specialists and environmental policy analysts.

SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT – MF, MS, PH.D.
The sustainable forest management graduate program emphasizes the conservation of forest-dominated landscapes to meet ecological, economic and social criteria over long time frames through active forest management.

Students in this program may earn an MF, MS or Ph.D., and can specialize in one of six areas of concentration: forest operations planning and management; forest policy analysis and economics; forest biometrics and geomatics; silviculture, fire and forest health; forest soil and watershed processes; or engineering for sustainable forestry.

The sustainable forest management graduate program provide graduates with the foundation for excellent career opportunities throughout industry, higher education, government and nonprofits.

WOOD SCIENCE – MS, PH.D.
The Department of Wood Science and Engineering at the Oregon State College of Forestry offers a graduate education fully engaged in the dynamism and diversity of a rapidly evolving international field. Its wood science graduate program is fundamentally collaborative in nature and offers MS and Ph.D. degrees in a wide range of specialties, from chemistry to business.

Dual graduate degrees are encouraged. Common partner disciplines include civil engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science or forest science.

The demand for energy and thousands of consumer and industrial products made from wood and other renewable materials continues to grow as society becomes more aware of sustainability and green issues. The wood science program provides the foundation for great careers.

GRADUATING OUR FUTURE LEADERS
Educating the future research, teaching and outreach leaders in forest landscapes and ecosystems, the college awarded 102 graduate degrees in FY 2017 and FY 2018.

PARTNERSHIP IDENTIFIES TALENTED GRADUATE STUDENT CANDIDATES
In December 2017, an initiative for recruitment of Native Americans for the college’s graduate forestry programs was developed, funded partially by the department with a supplemental Graduate Laurels Block Grant. A committee including Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Intertribal Timber Council, the USDA Forest Service, and Salish-Kootenai College assisted in identifying potential graduate student candidates. Four Native American students were selected for admission in Fall 2018 and offered these tuition support awards. These students represent 23 percent of the fall 2018 class of forestry graduate program students.

FELLOWSHIPS PROVIDE AFFORDABLE OPPORTUNITIES
• The Dean’s Investment Fund funded two $30,000 matches to the Provost’s Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship, awarded in FY 2017 and FY 2018. The college also awarded more than $200,000 in graduate fellowships in FY 2017 and FY 2018, with a portion of funds coming from the Dean’s Investment Fund.
• With the goal of recruiting and retaining graduate students based on diversity and/or academic merit, the college awarded and administered $140,000 in tuition scholarship funding as part of the Graduate Laurels Block Grant from the OSU Graduate School.

SHARING GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH
Organized by graduate students, the college hosted the fifth and sixth annual Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium. The symposium showcases current graduate student research and promotes academic excellence by challenging students to present their work and receive feedback from their academic and professional peers. In 2017 and 2018, the symposium showcased more than 80 combined poster and oral presentations.

How long have you been at Oregon State?

I’ve been here 20 years. I’ve worked in the College of Forestry and the College of Agricultural Sciences. I moved back to the College of Forestry for good in 2006, and I’m currently the administrative manager for the department of Forest Ecosystems and Society.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

The people. That’s why I came back to the college. Everyone is very friendly and fun to laugh with. We had so much fun at the college’s holiday party this year.

What do you do outside work?

I like to go camping all year long, ride four wheelers and travel.

Where are some of your favorite spots?

My latest trips were to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks, and also to Arizona. I like to see new things.

Are you a native Oregonian?

Yes. I’ve lived here my whole life and graduated from Philomath High School. I don’t think I’ll ever leave. My kids are here and my new granddaughter.

What’s your favorite food?

Mexican food!

How do you unwind after work?

I play a lot of mindless Facebook games.

If you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why?

Probably vacuuming my long-haired cat’s hair.

What is your favorite part of the holidays?

Probably just spending time with my kids and laughing together.

You have a lot of bears in your office. What’s that about?

I collect bears! I like them because they seem so soft and cuddly, not that I’d like to run into one in the wild!

Breeka Li Goodlander spent her childhood traversing the St. Croix River Valley in Minnesota on the way to her grandparents’ house. Cut from glaciers, the placid river is surrounded by oaks and maples, and Goodlander found its beauty fascinating.

In high school, she began to explore the idea of turning her love for the natural world into a career. During an AP environmental science class, she earned college credit taking soil and water samples near her high school.

Goodlander decided to attend the University of Minnesota, but was more excited about her internship for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which allowed her to further explore her love of the environment.

Looking for a better option

“After two years, I had the opportunity to work full time for the state, so I started looking for more flexible learning opportunities,” Goodlander says.

She found Oregon State’s Ecampus on a list of top distance learning programs. OSU Ecampus is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

“I sent a random email to an advisor, and I was really impressed with how welcoming and prompt she was in responding to me even though I wasn’t a student yet,” Goodlander says. “The advisor answered all of my questions about transferring and doing a degree completely online. If not for her, I might not have applied to Oregon State.”

Goodlander found her student experience “liberating,” thanks to the flexibility. She says connecting with her professors was easy, and she fit her studies into her schedule during lunch breaks and after work.

“My favorite class was restoration ecology because we got to come up with a practical plan,” Goodlander says. “It was the first assignment I ever earned 100 percent on. It gave me the confidence to keep working hard.”

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never work a day in your life.”

Mark Twain’s quote rings true for Goodlander in her new position as a natural resources scientist for Pinnacle Engineering, Inc. She applies what she learned at Oregon State and spends her days exploring wetlands and writing reports about her observations.

“For example, I might be on site and notice a certain area is in the path of a butterfly migration, so it needs to be noted so that planned construction in the area doesn’t interfere,” Goodlander says. “I feel like I’m really making a difference. The people I work with are very like-minded, and it’s a field I really enjoy.”

She says that during the hiring process for her current position, her employers were impressed with the experience she was able to gain while in school.

“My position required three to four years of experience, and without Ecampus, I wouldn’t meet that requirement,” Goodlander says.

“I also made so many professional contacts while I was going to school and working that I wouldn’t have made otherwise.”

What’s Next

Goodlander’s employer is supportive of her completing graduate work, and there are several Oregon State options she’s interested in.

“Right now, I’m working on a certificate in wildlife management, and I hope to apply that to either a master of science or a master of natural resources degree.”

For now, she recommends OSU Ecampus to anyone looking for a flexible educational experience. Goodlander says her ultimate goal is to own her own wetland area.

“I would love to have my own space and open a wildlife rehabilitation facility,” she says. “I’ve always found the natural world very grounding. To me, it is what is real. It gives me inner peace.”

The Oregon State College of Forestry offers six distinct and top-ranked academic programs in a small, friendly environment where students get personal attention and guidance from faculty, staff and advisors.

Career paths take students into a forest, a factory, a laboratory or an office, and graduates leave Oregon State with knowledge and skills that are in demand in both the Pacific Northwest and worldwide.

All programs lead to a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree and allow students to focus on a particular forest landscape or ecosystem area.

FORESTRY
Oregon State is world-renowned for forestry education and research. In this program, students train outside, in forests and with real, cutting-edge technology and equipment. Students graduate with real-world experience, ready to actively plan for, observe and manage the health of the entire forest ecosystem. Graduates often go on to gain employment with either federal or state agencies or private timber companies.

The forestry program offers three options for students to focus on: forest restoration and fire, forest management and forest operations.

FOREST ENGINEERING
Oregon State offers the nation’s only ABET-accredited program in forest engineering. This program emphasizes analytical skills required for evaluating engineering systems and integrates the mechanical and economic requirements of forest operations with the biological requirements of the forest.

Forest engineering students’graduate ready to help meet global demands for wood products while sustaining water, habitat and other forest resources.

Students in this program have the option of a dual major in civil engineering offered in partnership with the OSU College of Engineering.

NATURAL RESOURCES
Oregon State is ranked third in the nation (College Factual) for natural resources education. Students in this program have a working knowledge of a board
span of natural resources, their diversity and interdependence and the critical relationships between humans and the environment. This program is for students interested in an interdisciplinary approach to resource management and a career dealing with land use, water resources, environmental policy, natural resource education and related endeavors.

This program is available at the flagship Corvallis campus, in Bend at OSU-Cascades and online through OSU Ecampus.

RENEWABLE MATERIALS
The renewable materials degree program teaches students how to help the world replace oil-based and other non-renewable materials with plant-based renewable alternatives and shape the future of wood products design and advanced manufacturing.

Students learn how wood, bamboo and other materials can be used to provide housing, consumer products, energy and other benefits to society.

Students in the renewable materials program have four options of study to choose from: art and design, marketing and management, science and engineering and advanced manufacturing.

TOURISM, RECREATION + ADVENTURE LEADERSHIP
The tourism, recreation and adventure leadership (TRAL) degree program prepares students to work in the fast-growing outdoor industry. Courses explore how
people relate to environments and how recreation and natural spaces can work together for the benefit of both the population and land.

Students have four options of study to choose from: adventure leadership education; nature, eco and adventure tourism; outdoor recreation management and sustainable tourism management.

This program is available on the Corvallis campus and at OSU-Cascades in Bend.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE WORLD
Oregon State University consistently ranks among the top in the world for forestry, natural resources, recreation and wood science research. OSU was recently ranked number two in the world in forestry by the Center for World University Rankings and ranked third in the nation for natural resources studies by College Factual.

GRADUATING OUR FUTURE LEADERS
Dedicated to preparing the future leaders of our working forest landscapes, the college awarded 372 undergraduate degrees in FY 2017 and FY 2018.

MAKING OPPORTUNITY AFFORDABLE
Through the generosity of our donors, the college regularly awards more than $500,000 in undergraduate scholarships each year. During FY 2017 and FY 2018, the college awarded more than $1.10 million in undergraduate scholarship support with individual awards ranging from $1,000 to $9,000.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IS KEY
The college prides itself on educating and preparing its students to be competent, innovative and professional members of fields across the forest landscape. Students in all programs are encouraged, and in some majors, required, to complete work experience in their chosen fields. The Mentored Employment Program enables faculty to hire undergraduate students on research and other projects with an expectation of at least one hour of direct mentoring per week. The program supports about 20 students per year.

A PATHWAY TO SUCCESS
The college remains a strong partner with Oregon’s community colleges. In FY 2018, the college entered detailed pathway agreements with Umpqua Community College and Southwestern Oregon Community College. This enables students to find financially accessible pathways to the college’s degree programs.

A GROWING COLLEGE
Since the launch of the college’s recruitment plan in 2017, enrollment has increased. In FY 2018, applications and admitted students to college programs were up almost 20 percent. Traffic to program websites increased by 300 percent over previous years. The college welcomed 174 new first-year and transfer students to its degree programs for fall 2018, a 25 percent increase over the previous year and the largest incoming class in college history.

PARTNERING WITH TRIBAL COMMUNITIES
The college continues to provide leadership and facilitation of OSU faculty, staff, and Tribal partners in the development of a Native American Educational Pathways proposal. The college co-organized and cosponsored the Oregon Indian Education Association’s annual conference, held on the Corvallis campus May 1-2, 2018. In addition, the college is collaborating with OSU colleagues on an Oregon Sea Grant proposal entitled “Engaging Collaborative College Pathways for Native American Youth in Coastal Tribes,” and partners with the Intertribal Timber Council to provide an additional $2,5000 in scholarships to recipients of the ITC Truman D. Picard Scholarships.

Growing up in Madras, Quinton Big Knife worked for timber companies during breaks from school and soon decided he wanted to pursue a forestry degree at Oregon State University.

“I just really like being out in the woods,” says the Oregon State senior. “It’s exciting to see a forest go from unmanaged to managed and to see the difference it makes.”

To ease his transition to Oregon State, Big Knife participated in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program.

The LSAMP program at Oregon State, funded by the National Science Foundation, is dedicated to increasing the number of traditionally underrepresented students successfully completing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) baccalaureate degree programs. LSAMP also works to increase the number of students interested in and qualified for undergraduate research and graduate level studies.

“The program was really helpful,” Big Knife says. “The college community is really great, and I have made a lot of great connections, especially since I started professional school.”

Big Knife participates in the Oregon State student chapter of the Society of American Foresters (SAF), serving as vice chair. He is also involved in undergraduate research.

“The work is really fun and educational,” Big Knife says. “The project is biomass research. We sample and take measurements of trees on different national forests, and help make biomass equations to inform land management decisions.”

To conduct his research, Big Knife often spends eight days in the forest at a time, which he enjoys.

“I love going out to the College Research Forests for labs. Having them so close to campus is awesome. Learning how to timber cruise from a book is different from doing it yourself. You get your measurements, get your data, and really understand what the numbers mean,” he says.

While Big Knife isn’t sure where life after graduation will take him, he feels prepared to work in the forestry industry and is excited to implement active forest management techniques across our landscapes.

“I think agencies need more resources to carry out active forest management plans,” Big Knife says. “And the public needs more information about what active forest management looks like. I am excited for my future career as a forester and silviculturist.”

How long have you been at Oregon State? How did you end up here? What’s your career been like?

Two and half years. I moved to Oregon with my husband in August 2016 because of his job at OSU.

I was a stay-home mom for the first one and half years, and started my job at OSU College of Forestry in January 2018.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of my job is the people I work with. They are kind, warm and supportive.

What does your life look like outside work? Tell me about your family and your hobbies.

I have two kids. My daughter just turned six, and my son is four years old. My husband is an anthropologist.

I like piano, harp and classical Chinese music (Zheng, or Zither), and I also like gardening, trying different food, watching films, reading books and travelling.

Have you read, watched or come across anything in pop culture, or just in life lately that you’d like to share with the CoF community?

I’m afraid I am a bit old-fashioned and don’t know much about pop culture…..I’d like to share some of my favorites: all Miyazaki’s cartoon films, Into the West (2005) by Steven Spielberg, Amélie (2001) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Did you celebrate Chinese New Year earlier this year? What does that mean to you? Tell me about your heritage.

It’s a festival of family reunion. In my family, we make dumplings after dinner at New Year’s Eve and eat dumplings as the first breakfast in the New Year.

On the first day of New Year, young members of the family receive red envelops from seniors as a symbol of good luck.

When I was little, my grandparents and parents always put the red envelops under my pillows to ward off evil spirits and protect me from sickness.

Now it’s my turn to put red envelops under my kid’s pillows. I guess that’s part of my “heritage.”

College of Forestry

At Oregon State University

Exploring ecotourism in Chile

Educating the public on wildfire

Research that sticks

Staying busy, making an impact

College of Forestry graduate degrees

Staff Q&A: Misty Magers

An Oregon State degree from 2,000 miles away

College of Forestry undergraduate degrees

Hands on learning makes a difference

Staff Q&A: Sunny Rong

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