He plants trees to benefit another generation. —Caecilius Statius
Fast Facts
- Faculty in the School are among the most productive in the nation, according to independent studies published in the Journal of Forestry and released by Academic Analytics.
- In 2007, our PhD in Forest Science was ranked fourth in the nation by Academic Analytics.
- Michigan Tech leads the world’s longest study on predator-prey relationships, the fifty-year investigation of wolves and moose on Isle Royale.
- The School is ranked in the top 10 percent in conservation biology research productivity among academic institutions in the United States and Canada.
- Michigan Tech leads the Aspen FACE (Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) experiment, a long-term study of the effects of ozone and carbon dioxide on northern forests.
- The School has been designated a Regional Center for Global Climate Change by the US Department of Energy.
Graduate Programs in Forestry
Michigan Tech’s graduate programs in forest science and ecology stress understanding of ecosystem and organismal functions. Research areas range from climate change and invasive species to carbon production and the dynamics of wildlife and insect populations. Areas of study include forest ecology, forest soils, silviculture, tree improvement, forest wildlife ecology and management, economics, forest inventory, geographic information systems, growth and yield, wood science, and forest biology.
In addition to providing a hands-on, experimental graduate education, the School also offers one of the strongest Peace Corps graduate forestry programs in the country.
The School offers state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to below-ground ecology, GIS and remote sensing, forested wetlands, and landscape ecology. The latest molecular biology and microarray functional genomics instrumentation, is also available for graduate student research. A stable isotope laboratory supports research in nutrient cycling and trophic studies. Students have access to the US Forest Service North Central Experiment Station underground laboratory.
The 4,600-acre Ford Center and Research Forest supports diverse research projects, including northern hardwoods stocking level studies, regeneration and establishment of eastern hemlock, gradient studies, carbon sequestration, soil warming, and genetic diversity.