Author: Tim Albaugh

FPC Staff Changes

As you probably know, Jose Stape stepped down as Co-Director of the FPC in early May and has returned to Brazil to assume a new position with Suzano. We thank Stape for his numerous contributions to the coop over the years and we wish him success in his new position. We look forward to working with him in his new role in Suzano.

Barry Goldfarb has agreed to serve as the interim Co-Director of the FPC at NCSU. Barry has a long history of working with University/Industry Coops at NC State and understands coops and how to make them work effectively. We thank Barry for agreeing to take on this new role and help us make a smooth transition at NC State. Barry ‘s email is bgg@ncsu.edu if you would like to get in touch with him. Barry has already attended several coop meetings and is fully engaged in the FPC program. He will be attending the upcoming FPC Pine and Eucalyptus Contact meeting in Argentina and Brazil in June.

NC State University is moving quickly to hire a new Assistant/Associate Professor of Silviculture and Co-Director of the FPC. We have the full support of Tom Gower, the Department Head at NC State University to do this as quickly as possible. A search committee, chaired by Steve McKeand, Director of the Tree Improvement Cooperative has been formed. Barry Goldfarb, Tom Fox and Terri Galinski from Plum Creek are serving on the search committee to represent the FPC. The position will be advertised later this summer and interviews will be held early in the fall. We hope to have a new Co-Director on board by January 2016. We will communicate with you about the search process as it proceeds this fall.

Melanie Paul accepted a new position at NC State working for the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. She is still helping out the FPC on a part time basis with the coop budget, finance, and personnel issues at NC State. However, her work with the Coop website and email listserves and other administrative aspects of the coop is now handled by Tim Albaugh. Please contact Tim (talbaugh@vt.edu) if you have any questions about the website or our listserves.

We are working to create a new position in the FPC to assist with field work related to both the US Eucalyptus Working Group and the US Pine Working Group. The person will be hired at NC State University later this summer and will help maintain the field portion of the FPC research in the US.

The Coop Staff now includes:
Tom Fox (trfox@vt.edu) – Co-Director
Rafael Rubilar (rafaelrubilar@udec.cl) – Co-Director
Barry Goldfarb (bgg@ncsu.edu) – Interim Co-Director
Tim Albaugh (talbaugh@vt.edu) – Data Manager
Rafaela Lorenzato Carneiro (rafaela@ipef.br) – Research Associate (Brazil)
Marco Yanez (myanez@ncsfnc.cfr.ncsu.edu) – Research Associate (Chile)
Matthew Sumnall (msumnall@vt.edu) – Research Associate (Remote Sensing)