Leah Rettenbacher
Master of Science in Forestry (MSc)
Heteroecism and autoecism in pine rusts
Canadian Immigration Updates
Review details about the recently announced changes to study and work permits that apply to master’s and doctoral degree students. Read more
Forests go far beyond British Columbia; they cover 1/3 of the Earth’s land surface. Forestry graduate students learn from a dynamic and diverse group of researchers who educate and communicate how forests and forest products contribute to the well-being of all living things. The health and sustainability of forests and the people who depend on them underlies everything we do.
The Faculty of Forestry is one of the top institutions globally in forest-related education and research. The unique breadth of expertise we possess allows us to integrate new knowledge across many disciplines. Offering both master’s and doctoral programs, our graduate students learn from a dynamic and diverse group of researchers from around the world.
Research Facilities
The Forest Sciences Centre is a showcase for construction using Canadian forest products, and was architecturally designed to mimic the landscape of British Columbia: towering trees, mountains, and blue-green waters. The 17,505-square-metre Forest Sciences complex has 11 classrooms, 2 lecture theatres, teaching laboratories, office space, computer labs, study areas, and a cafeteria, and houses the Faculty’s three departments.
Built alongside the Forest Sciences Centre is the 3,730-square-metre Centre for Advanced Wood Processing. It is Canada’s national centre of excellence for education and research related to wood products processing and advanced wood products manufacturing, and works to advance knowledge that fosters job creation, stabilizes forest-dependent communities, encourages increased value recovery, and ensures the sustainable management of Canada’s forests. This building includes two 25-seat classrooms, a machine lab, a simulator lab and a computer lab.
Within the Faculty of Forestry, there are also several research groups. Visit the website of each project to find out more.
Off-campus facilities include two Research Forests: the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge and the Alex Fraser Research Forest near Williams Lake. These are working forests located throughout the province where students and faculty can study in an outdoor setting. Fish and wildlife, silviculture, forest harvesting, forest ecology, forest management, and resources management figure prominently in these field studies.
Research Highlights
UBC Forestry is turning out a new generation of foresters, and faculty are committed to meeting future challenges in forestry through in-depth, cutting edge research. In fact, UBC Forestry receives the highest level of forestry research funding of any forestry faculty in Canada.
In the 2017/2018 fiscal year, members of the Faculty Forestry were awarded a total of over $12 million in research funding.
Our wide breadth of research includes topics such as tree rings, integrated remote sensing, bioenergy, forest conservation genetics, landscape visualizations, African forest conservation and development, alpine studies, climate change, and advanced wood processing.
Schools / Departments
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Paradis, Gregory | Department of Forest Resources Management | Design and analysis of sytems; Modelling and applications of systems; Production systems engineering; Systems engineering, n.e.c.; Programming in operational research (including linear and nonlinear programming); Combinatorial and network optimization (including programming and metaheuristics); Optimization under uncertainty (including stochastic and robust optimization); Bilevel optimization and game theory; Stochastic models (including queueing and simulation); Decisions and risk analysis; Forest management; Forest Operations; forest estate modelling; carbon budget modelling; Ecosystem services; cumulative effects; Operations Research; industrial engineering; computer science; forest economics; forest sector sustainability; mining sector sustainability |
| Park, Keun | Department of Forest Resources Management | Smart city design and development and related analysis; Landscape studies (except architecture); Urban design and studies; Geographic information system (GIS and GPS) applications; Design of healthy, just, and resilient cities through urban nature; Environmental justice; Human Behaviours in public space; Urban planning; urban forestry |
| Renneckar, Scott | Department of Wood Science | Advanced renewable materials, biopolymer structure characterization, Clean fractionation of biomass, Electrospinning Fibers, Nanocellulose, Self-assembly of biopolymers |
| Rhemtulla, Jeanine | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Ecological Trends; Landscape and Restoration; Environment Management and Protection; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity; Conservation & Poverty Alleviation; Ecosystem services; Landscape ecology & spatial analysis; Reforestation; socio-ecological systems; Temperate & tropical forest & agroforestry systems |
| Roeser, Dominik | Department of Forest Resources Management | Forest Operations; Wildfire Operations; Biomass supply systems; Feedstock quality improvements; Technology transfer of harvesting technologies in different operational environments; Small scale harvesting systems; Small scale bioenergy solutions |
| Sayer, Jeffrey | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; biodiversity; Communities and Livelihoods; Forest policy; Forest conservation in Indonesia; Land-use Change; Reconciling conservation and development in tropical forest landscapes; sustainability; Tropical Landscapes and Livelihoods; Tropical forest conservation |
| Simard, Suzanne | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | forestry silviculture soils mycorrhizae forest ecology, Biodiversity, climate change, conservation, ecology, ecosystems, forest biology, forest management, microbiology, silviculture, soil science, sustainability |
| Smith, Gregory | Department of Wood Science | Engineering, wood products |
| Sowlati, Taraneh | Department of Wood Science | Wood Science, Industrial Engineering in Wood Science |
| Sunderland, Terence | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Earth and related environmental sciences; Social and economic geography; biodiversity; Communications; Communities and Livelihoods; conservation; Conservation Biology; Ecosystem services; Environmental communication; Forest policy; Land-use Change; Landscape ecology; Natural Resource Management; social science; sustainability; Tropical Landscapes and Livelihoods; Developing countries; Forest management |
| Tu, Qingshi | Department of Wood Science | Forestry biomass and bioproducts; Earth and related environmental sciences; Systems engineering; Environmental engineering; Biomass (Energy); Sustainable Development; Modelization and Simulation; Biofuels and bioproducts; climate change; Computational modeling; Forest biorefineries; Industrial ecology; Life cycle assessment; Sustainable bioeconomy; Machine Learning |
| van der Ven, Hamish | Department of Wood Science | Sustainable supply chain governance; Sustainable production; Impacts of digital technologies on the environment; Transnational governance; International Political Economy; Environmental governance |
| Wang, Guangyu | Department of Forest Resources Management | business management, climate change, conservation, forest management, forest policy, land-use change |
| Wang, Tongli | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | climate models, climate change adaptation, ecosystem climate projection, species range projection, assistant migratoin |
| Wiesner, Felix | Department of Wood Science | Engineering design; Fire Safety; Timber Construction; Timber Engineering; Wood Products; Fire protection |
| Wolkovich, Elizabeth | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; biodiversity; climate change; Conservation science; Global change; Plant communities; Plant invasions; Population and ecosystem ecology; Temporal ecology; Winegrapes |
| Zerriffi, Hisham | Department of Forest Resources Management | Environmental geography; Forestry biomass and bioproducts; Modelling and applications of systems; Environment and natural resources economics; Environmental policy; Biomass (Energy); Energy Transformation and Energy Using; International development; Environment and Society; Ideological, Political, Economical and Social Environments of Social Transformations; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; energy poverty |
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Recent Publications
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Forestry.
Recent Thesis Submissions
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dr. Schild investigated recycling options for wood composites that would otherwise be discarded. She showed that the use of sensor-technologies could enable for reliable differentiation of waste wood, that could then be used to manufacture cement-bonded wood panels, facilitating a transition toward more sustainable wood material industry practices. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Hua researched chemical modification routes for creating bio-based polymer materials from lignin. He developed a sustainable method to use the modified lignin in producing food packaging films and carbon fibers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Genetic differences among trees from different locations make them physically adapted to local environments, but vulnerable to climate change. Dr. Grubinger used drones, laser scanning, and multispectral imagery to quantify traits related to climate adaptation in genetic field trials of conifers, revealing novel patterns in genetic adaptation and establishing a proof-of-concept for drone phenotyping. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Dort studied the genetics and genomics of plant pathogens. She used comparative genomics to discover patterns of plant pathogenicity in fungi and established CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in an oomycete forest pathogen. Her research provides a foundation for future studies of forest pathogens and the improvement of disease surveillance strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Coexisting with flood-adapted forests can be a challenge for communities that are built within historical floodplains. Dr. Moran's research revealed conditions under which cottonwood forests might thrive in the presence of flood control infrastructure, and suggested workable restoration strategies for highly developed riverscapes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Wertman discovered a unique, putative mutualism between the alder bark beetle and a newly described species of fungus. Her research expands upon known bark beetle-fungus symbioses to include a hardwood tree-killing system and has implications for the future health of nitrogen-fixing red alder throughout the Pacific Coast of North America. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Chadwick developed methods for deriving critical assessment data for regenerating post-harvest stands in Alberta, Canada from drone imagery. His methods provide a basis to increase the efficiency with which monitoring can occur and offer a level of wall-to-wall detail that cannot be practically obtained with traditional methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Lane studied changes in tidal marsh vegetation and seed germination potential in coastal conservation areas of BC. She found evidence for loss and limited germination of native species, and high risk of invasion by non-native species. This research highlights a need for active management and restoration in coastal ecosystems in BC and beyond. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Loughnan studied climate change impacts on the timing of life history events, including the start of spring in forests. She found important relationships with environmental cues, like temperature, and evolution in how native woody species are responding. Her work has applications in conservations and management of forests across North America. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2024 | Dr. Zhao developed ecological models to predict forest tree species' fundamental climate niche and productivity. Her innovative studies offer essential insights into forest adaptation strategies such as conservation or assisted migration in response to climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |