Thomas Timberlake, a Ph.D. candidate in Forest Sciences, recently received a first-place student award for his research presentation on “Assessing the First Generation of Forest Service Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments” at the 2017 Society of American Foresters (SAF) convention.

He was matched up with two professionals from the USDA Forest Service during his scheduled session. Each speaker gave a 30-minute presentation on their work as it related to the overarching theme of integration.

“My research considers the interactions between forest managers, scientists, and policy-makers in the context of climate change adaptation,” Timberlake said.  “I appreciate how SAF offers opportunities to present to and interact with these different groups concurrently.”

In the course of his research, Timberlake has worked with the U.S. Forest Service’s Office of Sustainability and Climate to evaluate how to move forward using themes, best practices and improvement opportunities gleaned from existing assessments made on forest vulnerabilities to climate change. He said his research indicates that the success of managing forests adaptively will rely in part on the collaborative efforts of professionals from different disciplines.

“In my presentation, I highlight the role for partnerships between scientists and managers to develop assessments, to increase the scale of assessments, and the need for adept communication of assessment results,” he explained.

Communication training is something he’s become well adapted to in his graduate career. Associate Professor Courtney Schultz advises Timberlake and believes this is just the beginning.

“Thomas is bound to be a leader in this field,” she said. “It’s great to see him receive this recognition for his excellent work at this early stage in his career.”

Timberlake has come to see that communicating his research in accessible ways across different settings represents a key facet of his graduate student training as he prepares for the next step, or the next presentation.

“Acknowledgements like this award motivate me to continue my research and seek out additional opportunities to communicate my results,” he said.