Staff Resource Guide
Scientists at Work
EFETAC Director, Research Hydrologist, Research Triangle Park Office (ge.sun@usda.gov or 919-549-4070)
Current Research: forest hydrology and climate change
Education: PhD, University of Florida, forest hydrology and watershed management; MS, Beijing Forestry University, forest hydrology; BS, Beijing Forestry University, soil and water conservation
Research Interests: forest hydrology, climate change, computer simulation, geographical information systems, remote sensing, water supply and demand, forestry best management practices, soil erosion, sediment transport, forest wetlands
Professional Affiliations: American Water Resources Association, American Geophysical Union
Steve McNulty
Research Ecologist and Team Leader, Southeast Regional Climate Hub Director, Research Triangle Park Office (steve.mcnulty@usda.gov or 919-549-4068)
Current Research: forest modeling, forest management, climate change
Education: PhD, University of New Hampshire, natural resources; MS, University of Wisconsin-Madison, forestry; BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison, natural resources
Research Interests: forest hydrology, wildlife and forestry diversity, climate change, environmental stress, nitrogen deposition, atmospheric carbon dioxide, soil erosion
Kurt Riitters
Research Ecologist, Research Triangle Park Office (kurt.h.riitters@usda.gov or 919-549-4015)
Current Research: national and global scale landscape pattern assessment and management
Education: PhD, Oregon State University, forest science; MF, University of Minnesota, forest management; BES, University of Minnesota, elected studies
Research Interests: landscape ecology, resource planning, forest fragmentation, forest spatial pattern assessment, socio-ecological systems, forest health, silviculture, remote sensing, land cover maps, Montreal Process
Professional Affiliations: International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE, US Section), Internationalen Gesellschaft für Landschaftsökologie (IALE, German Section)
Biological Scientist, Research Triangle Park Office (johnny.boggs@usda.gov or 919-549-4060)
Current Research: impacts of nitrogen deposition on nutrient cycling and forest productivity, effectiveness of forestry best management practices on water quality protection
Education: MS, Alabama A&M University, plant and soil science; BS, Alabama A&M University, plant and soil science
Research Interests: outreach, stream management, water quality, forest management, climate change, nitrogen deposition, nutrient cycling
Professional Affiliations: Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences
Biological Scientist, Asheville Office (william.m.christie@usda.gov or 828-257-4370)
Current Research: geographic information systems and remote sensing
Education: MS, University of South Carolina, geography (remote sensing, GIS); BS, Middle Tennessee State University, geography; AS, Lake City Forest Ranger School, forestry
Research Interests: technical and analytical geographic information systems operations, creating web-based mapping applications, technology transfer, creating partnerships
Michael GavazziBiological Scientist, Research Triangle Park Office (michael.gavazzi@usda.gov or 919-549-4064)
Current Research: forest carbon, climate change and prescribed fire
Education: MS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, forestry; BS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, business
Research Interests: carbon, biomass, soil respiration, field data collection, disturbance, forest growth and productivity models, prescribed fire, wildfire risk assessment
Qinfeng GuoResearch Ecologist, Research Triangle Park Office (qinfeng.guo@usda.gov or 919-549-4043)
Current Research: invasive plants, community ecology, biogeography
Education: PhD, University of New Mexico, biology (ecology); MS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, botany; BS, Hebei Normal University, physical geography
Research Interests: invasive plants, plant community ecology, invasives and climate change, biogeography, biodiversity, biological invasions, plant and community succession, community and ecosystem self-organization
Professional Affiliations: Chinese Ecologists Association Overseas (Sino-ECO), American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ecological Society of America
Ecologist and Team Leader, Asheville Office (william.w.hargrove@usda.gov or 828-257-4846)
Current Research: national early warning system
Education: PhD, University of Georgia, ecology; MS, University of Georgia, entomology; BS, Vanderbilt University, biology
Research Interests: landscape ecology, ecoregionalization, conservation, statistics, parallel computation, spatially-explicit simulation modeling, multi-dimensional GIS technologies, entomology, GPS
Professional Affiliations: International Association for Landscape Ecology, American Geophysical Union, American Institute of Biological Sciences, Society of American Foresters, Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute, USA National Phenology Network
Research Ecologist and Team Leader, Research Triangle Park Office (frank.h.koch@usda.gov or 919-549-4006)
Current Research: forest pest invasions, particularly spatio-temporal aspects
Education: PhD, North Carolina State University, forestry; MS, North Carolina State University, natural resources; BS, Duke University, art design and philosophy
Research Interests: invasive forest pests, risk analysis, pest risk models and maps, uncertainty, human-mediated dispersal pathways, forest health
Professional Affiliations: Society for Risk Analysis, Entomological Society of America, International Pest Risk Mapping Workgroup
Ecologist, Asheville Office (steve.norman@usda.gov or 828-259-0535)
Current Research: wildland fire, land surface phenology, comparative risk assessment
Education: PhD, Pennsylvania State University, geography; MS, Western Illinois University, geography; BS, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, geography and environmental science
Research Interests: novel changes in disturbance and ecosystems, restoration ecology, integrating multiple values in planning and management
Professional Affiliations: Ecological Society of America, International Association for Landscape Ecology, Association for Fire Ecology, Tree Ring Society, American Geophysical Union
Ecologist, Asheville Office (lazarus.y.pomara@usda.gov or 828-257-4357)
Current Research: Assessment and Inventory of Ecosystem Services and Environmental Threats across the Appalachians
Education: PhD, University of Texas at Austin, geography and the environment; MS, University of Georgia, wildlife ecology; BS, University of Dallas, biology
Research Interests: conservation, biogeography, landscape ecology, tropical ecology, ornithology, climate change ecology, spatially explicit demographic modeling, species distribution modeling
Professional Affiliations: International Association for Landscape Ecology, American Ornithological Union, Association of American Geographers, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation
Kevin PotterNorth Carolina State University Cooperating Scientist, Research Triangle Park Office (kpotter@ncsu.edu or 919-549-4071)
Current Research: landscape ecology, population genetics, conservation genetics, broad-scale forest health assessment
Education: PhD, North Carolina State University, forestry; MS, North Carolina State University, natural resources; BA, Drake University, journalism
Research Interests: population genetics, landscape ecology, conservation biology of forest trees, forest communities at risk
Professional Affiliations: International Association for Landscape Ecology, Ecological Society of America, Botanical Society of America, Society of American Foresters
Additional Eastern Threat Center staff members: In-House Collaborators and Research Support Staff
