Forest Science / en Meet Robert Wright, new dean of Forestry at U of T /news/meet-robert-wright-new-dean-forestry-u-t <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Meet Robert Wright, new dean of Forestry at U of T</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/20170824%20-%20Robert%20Wright%20%28web%20lead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EEBF9FX8 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/20170824%20-%20Robert%20Wright%20%28web%20lead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vSyJ9lgu 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/20170824%20-%20Robert%20Wright%20%28web%20lead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lzKM_vh4 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/20170824%20-%20Robert%20Wright%20%28web%20lead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EEBF9FX8" alt="photo of Robert Wright"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-09-11T06:04:57-04:00" title="Monday, September 11, 2017 - 06:04" class="datetime">Mon, 09/11/2017 - 06:04</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Staff</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/forestry" hreflang="en">Forestry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/forest-science" hreflang="en">Forest Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/environment" hreflang="en">Environment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate" hreflang="en">Climate</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Robert Wright</strong> works in an office lined with reminders of the past, but his thoughts are on the future and mapping a way forward for forest science research and education at U of T.</p> <p>Wright, a long-time member of U of T’s academic community, is beginning a two-year term as dean of the Faculty of Forestry. A landscape architect, he is also director of the Centre for Landscape Research at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.</p> <p>He starts his new job as the university considers the best structure for forest science and forestry education to flourish at U of T.&nbsp; Forestry has six full-time faculty members and 111 graduate students and for several years has faced questions about its future. Consultations, led by Professor <strong>Elizabeth Smyth</strong>, vice-dean, programs, at the School of Graduate Studies, took place this spring and summer. The university plans to release a discussion paper based on those discussions and will start a second round of consultations this fall.</p> <p>Pointing to a black and white photograph on his office wall of a man seated on a horse – the Faculty’s first dean <strong>Bernhard Fernow</strong> - Wright says the Faculty has gone through many ups and downs since its founding. What has struck him, he said, is that researchers continue to be on the leading edge of so many complex issues, from battling the emerald ash borer and preserving urban forests, to developing new, wood-based materials and sustainable forestry practices.</p> <p>“The more I am here, the more amazed I am at all that the faculty and students are doing,” he said.</p> <p>His goal, he says, is to enable them to devote their attention to that work, without the distractions created by uncertainty.</p> <p>“There is no hidden agenda here. We are really looking for a positive solution - and what that means and what that requires and how it will unfold is open,” he explained. “I see an opportunity to make things better. Given the right circumstances and structure, forestry can flourish.”</p> <h4><a href="/news/planning-future-forest-science-research-and-education-u-t">Read more about forest science research and education at U of T</a></h4> <p>Wright says he is proud of the fact that it was Forestry faculty members who nominated him for the dean’s position. Their recommendation was supported by Vice-President and Provost<strong> Cheryl Regehr</strong> and President <strong>Meric Gertler.</strong></p> <p>“Professor Wright brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to this role,” Regehr said.&nbsp; “I‘m looking forward to working with him and with our faculty as we strive to find the best options for our students and our researchers.”</p> <p>Wright said he hopes to strengthen relationships with other Faculties and with colleagues at οScarborough and οMississauga, where research and courses related to forestry are taking place.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“I took the job because I think there is an alignment taking place at the university and that the Faculty of Forestry really has a role to play,” Wright said.&nbsp; “We need to find what the best organizational strategy is to support the faculty and the students and the research. That’s really what it is all about.”</p> <p>Wright says he is very much “in listening mode,” meeting individually with faculty and alumni to hear their thoughts. “I want to get as many views as possible right now and try to work out what the most innovative solution might be.”</p> <p>He’s also spent time this summer at the Haliburton Forest northeast of Toronto, a privately run sustainable forest that has a longstanding partnership with the Faculty.</p> <p>Everyone, he notes, has been incredibly generous with their time.</p> <p>Wright says the next step is a discussion paper that will be produced as a result of recent consultations.</p> <p>As he talks, Wright returns several times to the idea of sustainable biological resources and the need to respond to change. “It’s not just about getting people jobs, but putting them in the jobs that will be there 10 years from now,” he says. “How do you restructure a Faculty to address that future? That’s what we need to figure out.”</p> <p>Among the many paintings and objects Wright has inherited with his new office is a row of books on a shelf – many copies of <em>One Hundred Rings and Counting: Forestry Education and Forestry in Toronto and Canada, 1907-2007</em>, a history of the faculty written by Mark Kuhlberg to mark its centenary.</p> <p>It’s a story that at this point Wright pretty much knows by heart.</p> <p>“The book,” he says, “is not over.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 11 Sep 2017 10:04:57 +0000 geoff.vendeville 113470 at Planning the future of forest science research and education at U of T /news/planning-future-forest-science-research-and-education-u-t <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Planning the future of forest science research and education at U of T</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-23-forest-science1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UFUwj9Si 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-05-23-forest-science1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yooUtOtD 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-05-23-forest-science1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=n3y1Nis- 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-23-forest-science1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UFUwj9Si" alt="photo of professor and students in forest"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-05-25T13:13:48-04:00" title="Thursday, May 25, 2017 - 13:13" class="datetime">Thu, 05/25/2017 - 13:13</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Associate Professor Marny Isaac of οScarborough with environmental science students in Durham forest (photo by Ken Jones)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoff Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/forest-science" hreflang="en">Forest Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">οMississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">University launches consultation to chart new path</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto is seeking the community's input on the best way to support and enhance forest science research and education at U of T.</p> <p>“This is a dynamic and changing field,” said Vice-President and Provost <strong>Cheryl Regehr</strong>. “With faculty and students now working on forest science research across all three campuses, we need to develop the best structure for supporting that research and education.</p> <p>“Students today need access to a broad range of professors and research opportunities in this field – and we need to find a model that will ensure these programs can flourish.”</p> <p>Today, U of T’s Faculty of Forestry has just seven full-time faculty members and 111 graduate students; there is no longer an undergraduate program within the Faculty. <strong>Sandy Smith</strong>, a forestry professor and former dean of the Faculty, wants the university to maintain a separate Faculty of Forestry after the consultations are complete. She said it is important for the university to continue its tradition of ground-breaking research.</p> <p>“Forestry is in almost everything,” she said. “It's a key discipline for understanding how the world works.”</p> <p>But a diverse range of faculties and departments at οis now engaged in forest science and related research − and interest among students and researchers across οis strong, the provost said.&nbsp;</p> <p>She pointed to the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, home to U of T’s <a href="http://www.pulpandpaper.utoronto.ca/">Pulp and Paper Centre</a>, where researchers are working on converting forest biomass and mill effluents into alternative sources of energy, including methane and bio-ethanol.</p> <p>“Important work is also underway at οMississauga, at οScarborough – and at the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, at the School of the Environment, the department of geography and planning, and the department of ecology and evolutionary biology,” Regehr said.</p> <p>Some of that work takes place at the university’s <a href="http://ksr.utoronto.ca/">Koffler Scientific Reserve</a> at Joker’s Hill, a 350-hectare expanse of wetlands, fields and the largest old growth forest in the Oak Ridges Moraine.</p> <p><img alt="photo of forest at Koffler" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4735 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2017-05-25-koffler-embed.jpg?itok=SnS1Jkkg" style="width: 680px; height: 453px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Koffler is home to rigorous scientific experiments and a series of publicly accessible walking trails (photo courtesy of Koffler Scientific Reserve)</em></p> <p>At <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~mcadotte/index.html">οScarborough’s Cadotte Lab</a>, postdoctoral researcher <strong>Sebastian Seibold </strong>studies the effects of forest management and natural disturbances on biodiversity and how conservation measures can be integrated in forest management. And at οMississauga, assistant professor of biology <strong>Ingo Ensminger</strong> studies certain varieties of trees at the molecular, leaf, species and ecosystem levels to understand why some adjust to a hotter and drier climate, while others can’t cope with the consequences of climate change.</p> <p>For a current project, Ensminger is using a sensor-equipped drone to survey several experimental field sites of the Canadian Forest Service near Pickering and Quebec City, each the size of three football fields. The sensor monitors the fitness of thousands of tree seedlings based on changes in leaf pigmentation that are invisible to the human eye. His research could drastically reduce the time it takes to inspect these sites.</p> <p>“Normally it takes several days to manually inspect how the seedlings compare,” he said. “With the drone, one can survey the site in 20 minutes and instead of going out to the site only once every two or three years, foresters can hopefully afford to go out several times every year. It increases the amount and accuracy of the data, and will improve tree breeding and forest management.”</p> <p><img alt="Photo of drone surveying forest'" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4731 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Drone.jpg" style="width: 720px; height: 408px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Assistant Professor Ingo Ensminger is working on a project which involves using a drone to survey areas in Ontario and Quebec, each&nbsp;the size of three football fields, to detect changes in leaf pigmentation (photo courtesy of Ingo Ensminger)</em></p> <p>Over the years, the university has developed expertise across a range of forest science disciplines, from silviculture to sustainable forest management and urban forestry – a term said to have been coined by former οProfessor<strong> Erik Jorgensen</strong> in the 1960s. Among the researchers studying the growth and management of the city’s forests today is <strong>Tenley Conway</strong>, an associate professor in the department of geography at οMississauga.</p> <p>Conway focuses on how residents, community groups, municipalities and others interact with trees. <a href="http://sites.utm.utoronto.ca/conway/content/residents-canopy-cover-and-tree-density">One of her research projects</a>, for example, examined the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics of residents and tree density.</p> <p>“There’s a lot of interest in growing the urban forest right now, in planting more trees because they have potential to provide a lot of benefits to people in cities,” Conway said. “I hope my research adds some understanding about non-governmental actors and experts and how they interact with trees.</p> <p>“That information could potentially be used to craft better programs and policies.”</p> <p>As the world grapples with climate change and its consequences, the importance of forest science is “unquestionable,” Regehr said.</p> <p>“We want to build on the university’s distinguished record of leadership in this field, and improve our ability to deliver research and teaching that is stable and sustainable.”</p> <p>Until June 30, οstudents, staff, faculty, alumni and industry partners can submit feedback online in a first round of consultations. Professor <strong>Elizabeth Smyth</strong>, vice-dean, programs, at the School of Graduate Studies, is also holding a series of in-person consultations. The university plans to publish a discussion paper based on the first community survey, before launching a second round of consultations this fall.</p> <h3><a href="https://forms.provost.utoronto.ca/consultation-forestry/">Visit the consultation web site</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 25 May 2017 17:13:48 +0000 lanthierj 107800 at