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MSU's Forest and Wildlife Research Center to lead management of vital coastal forestland

MSU's Forest and Wildlife Research Center to lead management of vital coastal forestland

A partnership with multiple conservation agencies is positioning Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center to manage and positively impact coastal forestland for teaching, research and conservation of this vital ecosystem.

The 14,000 acres of bottomland hardwood and upland forests—part of the Coastal Headwaters Protection Initiative—are in Harrison County along the Wolf River, which distributes in...

11/11/2022

MSU doctoral student tackles feral swine across the Southeast as USFWS Directorate Fellow

MSU doctoral student tackles feral swine across the Southeast as USFWS Directorate Fellow

A Mississippi State College of Forest Resources graduate student has taken advantage of a recent opportunity to study feral swine as a fellow for a leading conservation agency, and his work has focused on developing a prioritization tool for feral swine control across the Southeast's 108 national wildlife refuges.

Tyler Evans, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture doctoral student, was selected as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dir...


MSU graduate student honored with Phi Kappa Phi national Love of Learning Award

MSU graduate student honored with Phi Kappa Phi national Love of Learning Award

A Mississippi State doctoral student in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture is being honored with an award from the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society.

Rebecca Bracken, who soon will defend her dissertation, is one of 200 Phi Kappa Phi members nationally to receive its annual Love of Learning Award, a $500 post-baccalaureate professional development grant. Bracken was first inducted into P...


Our People: Nathan Cowley

Our People: Nathan Cowley

Freshmen entering their first year of college may sometimes feel like a deer caught in headlights. That wasn't the case for Nathan Cowley, who enrolled at Mississippi State with a laser-sharp focus.

Cowley, a rising sophomore wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major, has always set his sights on ambitious personal and career goals. When deciding on a career path, he knew he wanted to foster his passion for hunting and fishing. When ...


Our People: Molly and Mattie Graham

Our People: Molly and Mattie Graham

Born and raised in Pensacola, Florida, in an ardent Auburn University family, twins Molly and Mattie Graham believed they were destined to be fourth-generation Tiger fans. However, one trip to Mississippi State University was all it took for them to trade their stripes for cowbells.

Growing up with no background or familial influences in forestry, wildlife or animal care, Molly and Mattie found themselves dreaming of becoming veterin...

9/30/2022

Duck and Cover: Nesting Box Research

Duck and Cover: Nesting Box Research

Taylor Gibson, currently pursuing a master's degree in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, was raised with curiosity and respect for wildlife and fishing. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, but as he grew older, he realized his true passion is waterfowl.

After graduating from Mississippi State with a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture bachelor's degree, Gibson went to work. He worked with Ducks...


MSU, MFA create forest resources student development fund in honor of former dean

MSU, MFA create forest resources student development fund in honor of former dean

Mississippi State's College of Forest Resources is partnering with the Mississippi Forestry Association to create the George M. Hopper CFR/MFA Student Development Endowment Fund in honor of the retired dean.

The Mississippi Forestry Foundation is a nonprofit organization started by the MFA, which aims to promote and execute programs in the state to advance forestry and natural resources. The organization recently presented a check fo...

9/15/2022

Protecting the South's
Signature Wildlife

Protecting the South's Signature Wildlife

As the State Land Mammal of Mississippi, white-tailed deer is the South's most significant wildlife species. The important economic and cultural resource contributes to Mississippi's $1.14 billion-dollar hunting industry, with an estimated 280,000 deer harvested each year. FWRC researchers seek to determine how weather and disease impact deer populations so the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, or MDWFP, can make inform...


Our People: Troy Lindsey

Our People: Troy Lindsey

For Coahoma County native Troy Lindsey, life on the water is both a pastime and a career. Growing up fishing and hunting in the Mississippi Delta—the birthplace of America's catfish industry—little did he know his hobby would parlay into a profession. Lindsey grew up in various towns that dot the Mississippi Delta, including Roam and Tutwiler, where he graduated from West Tallahatchie High School. He went on to Coahoma Community Co...


Break the Bottleneck: From forest floor to mill door, FWRC researchers keep wood moving

Break the Bottleneck: From forest floor to mill door, FWRC researchers keep wood moving

When the I-40 bridge closure severed a main transportation artery through Memphis in May 2021, the Arkansas Trucking Association estimated a daily loss of $2.4 million for the state's trucking industry. While Mississippi bridges aren't making national headlines, they do cause headaches for the logging industry. Approximately 226 of Mississippi's bridges are closed because of structural decline. Many more have reduced weight limits. FWRC resea...

9/8/2022

MSU recognized nationally for conservation work

MSU recognized nationally for conservation work

Mississippi State University is accepting a national award for its partnership in a large-scale sustainability project.

Kristine Evans, assistant professor in MSU's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, has been leading a team of MSU faculty and partnering agencies in a multiyear Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units project titled "Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes." The work is this year's winne...


Eyes in the Skies: FWRC scientists look to drones to identify potential flight disruptions

Eyes in the Skies: FWRC scientists look to drones to identify potential flight disruptions

It's been a dozen years since the "Hudson Bay Miracle" made history with an emergency landing of a passenger plane after it collided with a flock of Canada geese during takeoff. To prevent such hazardous incidents, airport biologists strive to mitigate aircraft-wildlife strikes. Knowing what is inhabiting the landscape and monitoring that wildlife in a common way among airports is essential for informing mitigation efforts.

Traditional...


A Wider Perspective

A Wider Perspective

Ranklin Quin, Jr. has been at home in the forest for much of his life. A Tylertown native, he grew up spending much of his time outdoors, from working in his family's garden to participating in 4-H activities.

Quin graduated from Alcorn State University in 1992 with a bachelor's in industrial technology and enrolled in MSU's wood science master's program that fall. After graduating with his master's in 1994, he went to work at a...

8/17/2022

Evans named MSU Geosystems Research Institute associate director

Evans named MSU Geosystems Research Institute associate director

A Mississippi State faculty member with more than a decade of research and service in wildlife, fisheries, aquaculture and land conservation is adding an administrative role to her responsibilities.

Kristine Evans, associate professor in the College of Forest Resources, is now serving as the associate director for MSU's Geosystems Research Institute.

"Kristine has built important relationships with favorable leadership cap...


Our People: Namia Stevenson

Our People: Namia Stevenson

Whether in Japan or Turkey or Germany, Namia Stevenson has always felt at home abroad.

Stevenson's parents were in the U.S. Air Force, and she spent much of her childhood outside the U.S. She considers Bitburg, Germany, her hometown because that's where she spent the most time growing up.

The wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture master's student studies frogs and toads in MSU's Conservation Physiology Lab. Her interest was p...


MSU forestry students accepted into national diversity scholarship program

MSU forestry students accepted into national diversity scholarship program

Two Mississippi State graduate students have been accepted into the Society of American Foresters Diversity Scholar Program.

Damilola Taiwo and Segun Adeyemo, both forestry graduate students in MSU's College of Forest Resources, have been accepted into the competitive program operated by the national organization that advances sustainable forest management, oversees accreditation of forestry programs and certifies professional forest...

8/5/2022

MSU partners with USDA to give 'impressive' grad students summer research experience

MSU partners with USDA to give 'impressive' grad students summer research experience

A cohort of graduate scholars from around the country have converged at Mississippi State for several weeks to gain high-performance computing skills through a summer research experience program.

MSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture created the MSU/USDA Graduate Summer Research Experience Program for scholars to apply high-performance computing resources to a variety of research projects across multiple agricultural disciplines...


Retired MSU professor releases new book on fishing and hunting

Retired MSU professor releases new book on fishing and hunting

A new book by a Mississippi State wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture professor emeritus recollects hunting and fishing in the South.

Donald Jackson's "A Sportsman's Journey," published by the University Press of Mississippi, is his fourth book and explores the connections between man and his environment.

Jackson, who continues teaching Principles of Fisheries Management in the College of Forest Resources, said he hopes rea...


Tagged eagle reaches Maine

Tagged eagle reaches Maine

For the last three years, Mississippi Power, Mississippi State University and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered on a banding project to help track eaglets that hatch at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane Refuge in Gautier.

Back in early March, the project entered a new phase when a transmitter with GPS tracking was placed on an eagle. This allowed researchers to track the birds wherever they fly, teaching invaluable lesso...


Brazilian scientists thrive professionally through partnership between FPL and MSU

Brazilian scientists thrive professionally through partnership between FPL and MSU

The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), in cooperation with Mississippi State University (MSU), has developed a strong graduate education and research program over the past several years that has attracted outstanding scholars from South America. Many have completed graduate degrees and are now providing leadership in academic, research and industry programs, both here in the United States and abroad.

"I'm very proud of the strong partner...

7/22/2022

Carbon Sink

Carbon Sink

Nearly two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions are from carbon dioxide according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the U.S., that number jumps to 80 percent. Trees store or sequester carbon, which reduces the amount that is released in the atmosphere. According to the U.S. Forest Service, America's forests sequester 866 million tons of carbon a year, which is roughly 16% of the U.S. annual emissions. As one o...

7/12/2022

Pelletizing Pine

Pelletizing Pine

The U.S. exported nearly 7.26 million metric tons of wood pellets in 2020, up five percent from 2019, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Due to the rising interest in this energy source across the globe, researchers in the Forest and Wildlife Research Center seek to develop a cost-effective reliable material that is sturdier in transport and burns cleaner when consumed.

U.K.-based renewable energy company Drax has partne...

6/30/2022

MSU encourages community stakeholders to attend workshop on resiliency improvements

MSU encourages community stakeholders to attend workshop on resiliency improvements

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State will host the Disaster Resilient Food Energy Water Systems workshop this Wednesday [June 29] at The Mill at MSU.

A first-of-its-kind event, DIRE-FEWS is hosted by a team of researchers from the university's Department of Sustainable Bioproducts in the College of Forest Resources and funded by a National Science Foundation Sustainable Regional Systems planning grant. It will include a panel of speak...

6/24/2022

Washed in Wood

Washed in Wood

Safe drinking water is something often taken for granted. Few are aware of the chemical processes that make water safe to use and consume at the turn of the tap.

Historically, water treatment plants have relied on petrochemicals to filter out contaminants, such as toxic metals and dyes, that are present in local water sources. But an unwanted result of this capability is that these treatments create their own waste, since they are made f...

6/13/2022

Wildlife faculty member at MSU soars in avian conservation

Wildlife faculty member at MSU soars in avian conservation

A Mississippi State faculty member in the College of Forest Resources is being recognized by a premier ornithology organization for excellence in landbird conservation.

Kristine Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is one of three avian conservationists recognized in the Western Hemisphere with the prestigious Partners in Flight leadership award. Partners in Flight is a network of more th...

5/4/2022

MSU staff honored with College of Forest Resources awards

MSU staff honored with College of Forest Resources awards

Mississippi State staff in the College of Forest Resources and the Forest and Wildlife Research Center are being honored with annual awards for excellence.

Wes Burger, dean of the College of Forest Resources and director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center, said the four stand-out individuals being recognized work diligently to advance the mission of CFR and FWRC.

"These professional and support staff members go...

4/26/2022

USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources, Environment visits MSU for 2022 Carlton Owen Lecture

USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources, Environment visits MSU for 2022 Carlton Owen Lecture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment—a Mississippi native and the first African American to hold this federal office—is this year's guest for Mississippi State's Carlton N. Owen Lecture Series.

Under Secretary Homer Wilkes will lead the Friday, April 29, public program titled "Climate Smart Agriculture and Conservation" at 10 a.m. in Tully Auditorium in Thompson Hall.

4/14/2022

Mississippi State's Phi Kappa Phi receives national Service Project Award

Mississippi State's Phi Kappa Phi receives national Service Project Award

Mississippi State's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi is being recognized with the organization's national Service Project Award for fall 2021 work in building a garden of native woody and herbaceous plants around Thompson Hall.

The annual Fall Service Project is a national event hosted by the PKP Council of Students in which each chapter addresses specific needs in its respective community.

MSU's chapter of PKP is the Division I aw...

4/12/2022

Demarais named MSU's 2022 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner

Demarais named MSU's 2022 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner

Mississippi State Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management Steve Demarais is being honored as the university's 2022 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award recipient.

Demarais, the Taylor Chair in Applied Big Game Research and Instruction in MSU's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, also is co-director of the MSU Deer Ecology and Management Laboratory. He is one of 14 faculty members from SEC universities...


MSU researchers use AI to better evaluate lumber

MSU researchers use AI to better evaluate lumber

A $500,000 federal grant will help Mississippi State researchers use artificial intelligence to increase the accuracy of lumber evaluation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture award funds an innovative research project in MSU's Department of Sustainable Bioproducts that aims to improve lumber grading systems with a machine-learning model. The research will identify characteristics that human graders and current auto-grading technologi...

3/14/2022

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