LUFA at ISA 2018 (& other summer updates)

It’s been a busy summer for LUFA! Since so much has happened, I thought I’d write a quick update with some of the key accomplishments of our lab.
 
First off, LUFA students Margaret Abood, Kaitlyn Pike, and Cecilia Shoopmann and I just got back from attending the 2018 International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Some  highlights from the event:

• Jess and Margaret gave a well-received talk about the CommuniTree Evaluation Research Project in a 40-minute presentation titled, “CommuniTree: Partnerships for tree planting and research in Northwest Indiana.” (See the PDF of our slides here.)
• Margaret and Cecilia presented research posters. Margaret’s poster described the detailed results of the stakeholder interviews she’s been conducting as part of the CommuniTree project, and Cecilia’s poster summarized preliminary results of our survey of Canadian urban foresters on their responses to climate change. Margaret and Cecilia talked to lots of interested arborists and urban foresters about these projects, and both are collaborating with me and some other colleagues to publish scholarly manuscripts to be submitted this fall.
• Kaitlyn was one of 5 students awarded a Student Travel Grant through AREA, the Arboriculture Research and Education Academy, a component organization of ISA. AREA Travel Grants are normally awarded to Ph.D. or current master’s students, but Kaitlyn got the award as a just-graduated B.A. student! On Wednesday, she presented a 10-minute talk on her summer project and what will become her master’s thesis research, “Tree preservation and construction” in Highland Park, IL.
• Lastly, Jess was honored to be awarded the “2018 Early-Career Scientist Award” as part of the ISA Awards of Distinction. See the video here, and the press release will be available soon.

 
Overall, we all had a great time learning and networking! Cecilia, Margaret, and Kaitlyn represented LUFA, the Environmental Science & Studies Department, and DePaul well. I was very proud. At the end, the students all said, “I can’t wait to come back next year,” which means the future of urban forestry is bright!

In other news from earlier in the summer, Kaitlyn Pike was awarded the highly competitive Garden Club of America Zone VI Fellowship in Urban Forestry to support her summer research on trees and construction, conducted in collaboration with Highland Park City Forester Keith O’Herrin. Kaitlyn will be starting our department’s brand new Masters of Science in Environmental Science this fall, and her summer project is the beginning of what will be her master’s thesis research. Kaitlyn was also awarded a scholarship from the TREE Fund (Tree Research and Education Endowment). Between all this and her AREA Student Travel Grant, you can’t stop this young researcher! I personally look forward to being her thesis supervisor for the next two years.
 
The final LUFA news update is international: On Sunday, August 12th, I’m headed to China! I’ve been invited by researchers at Henan Agricultural University to be a Visiting Foreign Expert at the International Lab of Henan Provincial Landscape Architecture in Zhengzhou, Henan. I’ll be there for 3 weeks, during which time I’ll give talks on climate change & urban forests, transdisciplinary research, how to write a high-quality scientific paper, mixed methods research, and learn from my Chinese colleagues (and nearly 50 graduate students at the International Lab!) about urban greening research and practice in China. Stay tuned for a full report when I return in September! ​