Paula is the manager of the Carbon, Water, and Soils Lab (CWS) and has over 20 years of expertise in preparation of environmental samples for radiocarbon dating. Paula serves as a vital part of the Radiocarbon Collaborative, providing expert laboratory analyses as well as serving in the role of mentor to students and technicians. Outside of work Paula enjoys dreaming about next winter’s snow management.

Chris has served as the director of NIACS for the past ten years and played an active role in most of the Institute’s projects, including directing the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub. He also studies forest soil carbon dynamics as a research ecologist for the Northern Research Station. He holds a PhD in forest science from Oregon State University. Chris enjoys a range of activities, including collecting mugs, trail running, snowshoe running, bicycling, and fishing. Chris does not like cooked vegetables or mushrooms, because they’re gross.

Danielle is the coordinator of the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub, and helps land managers cope with and adapt to the challenges of climate change. She is responsible for expanding the suite of adaptation resources at NIACS into the field of forest hydrology and the management of forested watersheds. Outside of work, Danielle is most often found running after her two enthusiastic energetic kids Ruthie, and Oliver, alongside her husband, and pup in the woods, backyard, or at a Lake Superior beach.

Kristen works in support of the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub to help natural resource professionals integrate climate change considerations into planning. She works with partners from within and outside of the NFCH footprint to help them apply climate adaptation tools to their work. This often leads to helping create new tools to meet partner needs, for example menus of strategies and approaches that consider tribal perspectives. Kristen loves hiking with her dog, biking, getting involved in community projects, and exploring places near and far.

Prasad is a Research Ecologist and has worked for the Forest Service since 1993. His research focus is to understand within-species variation of trees with respect to genetic, ecological, and environmental differences using multiple modelling techniques. He is involved in modelling colonization likelihoods of suitable habitats under future climates. He loves tinkering with models and scripts to help management and conservation. Prasad has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Environmental Resource Analysis.

Courtney is a NIACS team member in Fort Collins, CO working as a Research Associate in the Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department at Colorado State University. One of her major roles is serving as the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) Coordinator, focusing on disseminating ASCC project findings and translating them into outreach and training opportunities with land managers and scientists working to manage forests for climate change adaptation.

Matt is an Ecologist and provides technical support for the Climate Change Tree and Bird Atlas by conducting geospatial analyses and data processing, statistical modeling, and generates cartographic products. Matt has been with the Forest Service Northern Research Station since 2007. He graduated from Ohio University with a B.S. in GIS Analyst and Arizona State University with a M.S. in Applied Biological Sciences. Matt also provides GIS processing and analysis to other Northern Research Station researchers and the Wayne National Forest.

Todd’s work as the Fellow for the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub centers around supporting and contributing to climate adaptation trainings, synthesizing information on regional climate impacts and adaptation responses, with a focus on forest adaptation for carbon management. He is also responsible for evaluating adaptation decision-making in forest management through analyses of the forest adaptation demonstration projects developed through the Climate Change Response Framework.

Luke is an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Michigan, based at its Biological Station (UMBS) at the far northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. He joined NIACS in 2010, and his primary work is to maintain a collaborative research program on forest carbon and biogeochemistry through UMBS-based and large-scale data-based efforts with NIACS, federal agency, and academic partners. Luke is an avid outdoorsman and spends his free time enjoying the Northwoods through hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, and making maple syrup. 

Stephen is an Associate Professor of Wildlife Landscape Ecology in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University and also holds an affiliation as an ecologist with the Forest Service Northern Research Station.  Two general themes of his research focus are climate and land use change and wildlife habitat relationship. Collectively he aims to link these themes across scales to more fully understand and address the global change pressures faced by forests and wildlife.