Faculty of Forestry
University of Toronto
33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario
Canada
http://www.forestry.utoronto.ca/gradstud.html
Graduate Assistantships
(Starting year 2008-09)

The Faculty of Forestry is one of the world renowned institutions in
forestry research, and it offers a highly productive, research-
friendly, and innovations-oriented environment for graduate students
and young researchers. The faculty offers a full funding package (M.
Sc. F - $12,000 plus tuition and Ph. D. - $15,000 plus tuition) for a
funded cohort period (2 years for M. Sc. F. and 4 years for Ph. D.)
to all research stream graduate students. Many professors at the
faculty are looking for graduate students in their respective areas.
Details are given below:


1) Forest Biomaterials Science and Engineering Lab:
Interested candidates should contact Prof. Paul Cooper
(p.cooper@..., 416-946-5078)

Now, M.Sc.F. students at the Faculty can also do their research in
the areas of Forest Biomaterial Science and Engineering. The M.Sc.F.
program, with research thesis in these areas, is a two-year thesis-
based program suitable for students with backgrounds in forestry,
science or engineering who wish to gain a theoretical and applied
understanding of bio-based energy, chemical products derived from
forest resources or value-added wood products and processing through
a combination of coursework and practical research experience.

Funding for M. Sc. F. students is at the level of $12,000 plus fees
per year for two years. The Faculty plans to take many students in
this area for the next few years.


2) Prof. Shashi Kant's Lab (Forest Economics and Management)
Interested candidates should contact Prof. Shashi Kant
(shashi.kant@...)

Prof. Kant is looking for two graduate (MScF or PhD) students. The
applicants should have a strong background and research interest in
economics, forest modeling, and agent-based modeling. Selected
students will work on one of the following projects. Students will
receive a full funding package as described above.

Multi-Agent Modeling of Forest Management in Ontario: The main
objectives are: (i) to develop a decentralized spatial forest
management model (SFMM) that incorporates multiple forest values;
(ii) to develop a SFMM that integrates decentralized and centralized
approaches; and (iii) to develop a multi-agent based SFMM by
integrating co-evolutionary and multi-agent simulation (MAS)
approaches. The project envisages the use of cellular automata and
agent-based modeling techniques.

Evaluating the Ecological, Economic, and Social Tradeoffs of Managing
for valued Plants and Other Non-timber Forest Products: The main
objective of this project is to measure and compare the economic
effects of four different forest practices on food and medicinal
plants highly valued by First Nations in interior British Columbia.
The project envisages to use non-market valuation techniques.


3) Prof. Malcolm Campbell's Lab (Forest Genomics)
Interested candidates should contact Prof. Malcolm Campbell
(campbell@...)

Applicants with a background in forest genetics or plant molecular
biology are invited to apply for studentships in the Campbell
laboratory to partake in the following research:

1) Environmental Genomics of Drought Acclimation in Plants: The
successful candidate will characterise transcriptional regulons and
epigenetic modifications involved in plant acclimation to drought,
using comparative complete transcriptome analyses, epigenome
analysis, and bioinformatics. The successful candidate will be
integrated into a collaborative network project involving University
of Toronto (M. Campbell), University of British Columbia (S.
Mansfield), Simon Fraser University (A. Plant), Alberta Pacific Inc.
(B. Thomas), Agriculture & Agrifood Canada Prairie Farm
Rehabilitation Administration (AAFC PFRA, W. Schroeder), and involve
2 post-docs and 4 graduate students.

2) Biomass and Bioenergy Improvement through Plant Phenogenomics: The
successful candidate will be involved in the identification of
genetic loci to enhance biomass conversion to bioenergy, using a
plant phenogenomics approach. The successful candidate will be
integrated into a collaborative network project involving University
of Toronto (M. Campbell), University of British Columbia (S.
Mansfield), Queen's Unviersity (S. Regan), and Alberta Pacific Inc.
(B. Thomas), and involve 2 post-docs and 4 graduate students.
Successful candidates will conduct research using our state-of-the-
art facilities, using cutting-edge technologies, as a member of a
highly enthusiastic and collegial team. All members of the Campbell
lab receive generous top-ups to their base stipend, and other
benefits including travel to national and/or international
conferences.


4) Prof. Mohini Sain's Lab (Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials
Processing)
Interested candidates should contact Prof. Mohini Sain
(m.sain@...)

The Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials Processing (CBBP)
focuses on developing new materials and new processes using renewable
bio-based materials. Biopolymers are developed using materials such
as starch, vegetable oils and proteins. Bio-fibres, including micro-
and nano-fibres, are extracted from main- and by-products from
forestry and agricultural industry, such as wood waste, straw, soya
bean stock, flax, hemp, etc. Such bio-fibres are mixed with
biopolymers and/or petroleum-based polymers into biocomposites for
various applications, including packaging, automotive, building
products and electronics. Our centre is fully equipped to bring new
materials from laboratory to pilot scale and to prototyping for
production. Our processing equipment includes compounding (high
intensity mixers and twin screw extruders), injection moulding,
profile extrusion, sheet extrusion, foam extrusion, resin transfer
moulding and compression moulding. Our analytical capabilities cover
the following: most mechanical tests, rheological tests, thermal
property tests, durability tests, fibre characterization (dimension
and orientation), morphological, chemical and proteomic
characterizations.

In 2008, CBBP will require the following additional students and post-
doctoral fellows:

Ph.D. Student – Development of Protein Polymers for Renewable
Sources
Ph.D. Student – Co-injection Process of Bio-fibre composites

Post-Doctoral Fellow – Proteomics of Fungal Strains
Post-Doctoral Fellow – Novel Concepts of Processing Composites using
Medium Density Natural Fibres

5) Prof. Sean Thomas' Lab
Interested candidates should contact Prof. Sean Thomas
(sc.thomas@...)

a) Large-scale forest plot studies: My lab has been closely involved
in large-scale plot projects coordinated by the Center for Tropical
Forest Science (CTFS) of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute –
which currently includes some 17 mapped plots with over 3.5 million
trees. A current research initiative seeks to develop comparable
datasets from temperate forests to better address large-scale
comparative questions. For example, the effects of "natural enemies"
on tree demographic patterns are thought to be more important in
tropical than temperate forests, but large mapped plots in temperate
forests have been lacking to adequately test this idea. Over the next
few years we will be establishing the first forest "mega-plot" in
North America at our research site at Haliburton Forest
(prospectively 25 ha in size, with all woody stems 1 cm diameter
identified and mapped). Initially studies based on this plot will
focus on spatial analysis of tree distribution patterns,
quantification of habitat and community associations with lake
margins, and estimation of seed dispersal patterns. (Masters or PhD).

b) Age-related changes in tree gas-exchange, leaf chemistry, and
canopy structure: Currently funded work focuses on the implications
of age-related changes in tree functional biology to aspects
of "ecosystem function" such as carbon sequestration, litter
decomposition and nutrient dynamics. Studies will make use of canopy
access facilities at Haliburton Forest, Ontario, and potentially in
tropical forest sites in Panama and Malaysia (and potentially the
Caribbean nation of Dominica). Key applied aspects of this work are
related to the question of how very old trees function, and thus how
removal of old trees by harvesting alters forest ecosystems. (PhD).

c) Comparative tree ecophysiology: particularly as related to tree
ontogeny. What are the main axes of physiological variation that
determine ecological variation co-occurring tree species? What
physiological processes drive differences in tree habitat
requirements? Answers to these questions require both survey studies
that quantify tree habitat associations and their correlations with
functional traits, and manipulative experiments (such as reciprocal
transplant studies) that quantify responses to environmental
variables. Tree habitat requirements (such as growth responses to
light and maconutrients) appear to change markedly as trees grow and
mature, but these changes and the underlying physiology processes
involved remain very poorly understood. (PhD).

d) Tree interactions with polypore fungi: (bracket fungi),
specifically in relation to harvest-related damage, tree senescence,
and biodiversity maintenance. Partial stand harvests (such
as "variable retention") are widely advocated as a form of
ecologically sustainable forestry. However, partial stand harvests
always result in damage to residual trees, providing opportunities
for woody tissue infection by opportunistic fungal pathogens. A
particularly important group is the polypore (bracket) fungi. We have
recently documented very large effects of post-harvest damage on tree
growth and physiology, and also differences in fungal community
structure between managed and unmanaged hardwood forests in Ontario.
We suspect that polypore fungi are a main mechanism for these
effects. Planned work will focus on hardwood forests in Ontario, and
will involve a combination of field studies with development of
molecular markers to enable identification of fungal pathogens at
early stages of infection. In addition, collaborative work on
biodiversity may also involve surveys of insect groups dependent on
polypore fungi. (Masters or PhD).

e) Forest management effects on greenhouse gas fluxes: An
anticipated project in the lab will examine effects of partial stand
harvests and forest fertilization on the fluxes of greenhouse gases
other than carbon dioxide: specifically methane and nitrous oxide.
Planned work will make use of both chamber measurements of soil and
vegetation flux, and eddy covariance measurements making use of a
fixed instrument tower at Haliburton Forest. This project will be
conducted in collaboration with a soil microbial ecologist (Nathan
Basiliko, UT Mississauga, Geography), and an atmospheric chemist
(Jennifer Murphy, UT, Chemistry). (Masters or PhD).


5) Prof. John Caspersen's Lab
Interested candidates should contact Prof. John Caspersen
(john.caspersen@...)

A fully-funded Ph.D. research assistantship is available in the
Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto. The Ph.D. candidate
will examine the effects of stand structure and composition on crown
architecture and wood quality, focusing on spruce, aspen and pine in
pure and mixed stands in Ontario.

This research will contribute to a larger NSERC Strategic Network
project that seeks to develop
decision-support systems for forest managers and wood manufacturers.
As a participant in the ForValueNetwork, the Ph.D. candidate will
have the opportunity to learn about other projects being conducted by
network members, to enhance their knowledge and technical skills, and
to collaborate with students and researchers in other parts of Canada.

The Ph.D. candidate will be responsible for completing all four
phases of the project: 1) compiling and analyzing tree and stand data
for spruce, aspen, and pine from permanent sampling plot (PSP)
datasets; 2) collecting field data in selected stands to evaluate
effects of stand structure and composition on crown architecture and
wood quality; 3) data analysis and modeling; and, 4) preparing
progress reports, manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed
journals and a thesis.

Qualifications:
1. Sincere interest in forest ecology and silviculture
2. Strong quantitative skills
3. Experience and ability to conduct field work in remote
locations under challenging conditions
4. Valid drivers' licence (Canadian or US licence preferred).
5. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
6. Demonstrated ability to work independently and to meet
deadlines.

Stipend: $19,000 (CDN) annually
Starting Date: April 1, 2008 (tentatively)
Application: Send a letter of enquiry and curriculum vitae to John
Caspersen