Virginia Tech University
College of Natural Resources
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

Overview
Founded in 1872 as Virginia's land-grant university, Virginia Tech has an enrollment of 25,000 on-campus students, including more than 4,200 graduate students. Graduate work is offered in nearly 150 fields of study leading to the master's or doctoral degrees. Virginia Tech is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Graduates from Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources find employment in industry, government, academia, and a variety of international organizations involved in natural resource management and utilization. Recent graduates have taken jobs with major corporations (Georgia-Pacific, Weyerhauser, International Paper, and Westvaco), with the U.S. Forest Service, and with the faculties of North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, Penn State University, Clemson University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of British Columbia, and others.

The Community
The University is located in Blacksburg, a town of 35,000, situated in scenic southwest Virginia. The 2,600-acre campus lies on a plain between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, 2,100 feet above sea level. The area is noted for its natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities. Outdoor recreation facilities include the Claytor Lake State Park, Mountain Lake, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the New River, the Appalachian Trail, the Jefferson National Forest, and several nearby ski resorts.

Approximately 1 in 6 students on the 25,000-student campus of Virginia Tech is a graduate student. The College of Natural Resources enrolled 120 graduate and 520 undergraduate students in 2000. Sixty percent of the graduate students are master's candidates, and 40 percent are pursuing Ph.D.'s. Women and international students represent 27 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of the College's graduate student population.

Programs of study and degree requirements
The College of Natural Resources offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science (M.S.), the Master of Forestry (M.F.), and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. The M.S. and Ph.D. are research oriented and require the completion of a thesis or dissertation and appropriate course work. The M.F. is professionally oriented and does not require a thesis. Programs of study are designed by each candidate in consultation with his/her advisers, and they are approved by the student's advisory committee. Areas of study at all graduate degree levels include forest biology, forest resource management and economics, biometrics, outdoor recreation, industrial forestry operations, forest products operations, forest products marketing and management, wood science and engineering, aquaculture, fisheries science, and wildlife science.

Requirements for the M.S. degree include a minimum of 30 graduate credit hours, 6 of which may be research and thesis credits. The M.F. degree requires the completion of 33 credit hours of directed course work, 6 credits of which are for an independent paper. The Ph.D. degree program requires a minimum of 90 graduate credits, of which 30 or more are for course work and 30–60 credits are devoted to research and dissertation. Ph.D. students are required to pass qualifying and preliminary examinations, and they must complete and defend a dissertation based on original research.

Facilities & Resources
The College is housed in Julian Cheatham Hall, a three-story building containing approximately 50,000 gross square feet of working space, including laboratories, classrooms, and office space for administration, faculty members, and graduate students. Cheatham Hall also houses the Center for Environmental Applications in Remote Sensing, a facility that supports the application of remote sensing to environmental monitoring and assessment. All graduate students have access to specialized computer facilities. Field research is conducted at several sites throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. The College operates the Reynolds Homestead Research Center, a 710-acre research unit equipped with a laboratory, a greenhouse, and nursery beds. The Thomas M. Brooks Forest Products Center serves the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products by housing the Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management, the Biobased Materials/Recycling Center, the Process Automation Laboratory, the Center for Wood-Based Composites, the Sardo Pallet and Container Research Laboratory, and the Center for Unit-Load Design. The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences operates the Center Woods' Aquaculture Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility designed for intensive recycling aquaculture research, and the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange. Cooperative units of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Park Service include 11 research scientists stationed within the College. Virginia Tech's main library has more than 1.7 million volumes, more than 13,000 periodicals, and seating facilities for 1,800 students. Laboratories for basic research studies in physiology and nutrition of forest trees, fish, and wildlife are located in Cheatham Hall. Research and teaching laboratories in wood science and forest products, timber harvesting, and recycling are located in Cheatham Hall and at the Thomas M. Brooks Forest Products Center.

Expenses and Aid
Graduate tuition fees for 2000–01 were $2534 per semester for full-time enrollment (9 hours or more) by Virginia residents and $3974.50 per semester for full-time enrollment (9 hours or more) by nonresidents. Part-time and summer enrollment cost proportionately less.

Financial Aid: Graduate students are eligible for financial support through fellowships and research or teaching assistantships. Assistantships range from approximately $12,000 to $21,000 per annum. Graduate students are eligible for a variety of scholarships. All graduate assistants on half-time appointments receive full instructional fees scholarships in addition to their stipends.

Housing/Living Expenses: The University offers specialized housing to graduate students in Hillcrest and Main Campbell Halls; however, most graduate students find ample housing available in off-campus apartments. For additional information about on-campus graduate housing, students should contact Residential and Dining Programs, 109 East Eggleston, Virginia Tech, Mail Code 0428, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 (telephone: 540-231-6204; e-mail: housing@vt.edu).

How to Apply
Applications for admission to the Graduate School must include a transcript from an accredited undergraduate educational institution, completed application forms, and two letters of recommendation. Scores from the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are required by the Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences and Forestry. If the applicant's native language is not English, TOEFL and GRE scores are required. Application forms are available from the Graduate School, 209 Sandy Hall, Virginia Tech, Mail Code 0325, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061. Applications for fall semester admission should be received by March 1; assistantship applications are usually required by January 31, but some assistantship applications are considered at other times.

Who to Contact

College of Natural Resources
324 Julian Cheatham Hall
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
E-mail: vtcnr@vt.edu
 Dr. Gregory N. Brown, Dean
College of Natural Resources
324 Julian Cheatham Hall
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Telephone: 540-231-5481
http://www.cnr.vt.edu

THE FACULTY AND THEIR RESEARCH

Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences

  • Paul L. Angermeier, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Illinois, 1982. Fish communities, assessing quality and value of aquatic resources.
  • James M. Berkson, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Montana State, 1996. Resource modeling, wildlife management, conservation biology, population dynamics.
  • C. Andrew Dolloff, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Montana State, 1983. Salmonid ecology, cold-water stream ecology, forest-fisheries management.
  • Patricia A. Flebbe, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Georgia, 1982. Cold-water stream ecology, watershed ecosystem modeling, systems ecology.
  • James D. Fraser, Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1981. Conservation biology, management of endangered wildlife, nongame wildlife.
  • Carola A. Haas, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Cornell, 1990. Conservation biology, behavioral ecology, management of nongame birds.
  • Eric M. Hallerman, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Auburn, 1984. Fish genetics, conservation genetics, aquaculture.
  • Louis A. Helfrich, Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1976. Aquaculture, water quality, lake and pond management, angler attitudes.
  • Roy L. Kirkpatrick, Thomas H. Jones Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1966. Nutritional and physiological ecology, population ecology.
  • A. Dennis Lemly, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Wake Forest, 1983. Ecology of stream macroinvertebrates, insect-sediment interactions.
  • Steve L. McMullin, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1993. Human dimension of fisheries and wildlife, natural resource administration and policy.
  • Brian R. Murphy, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1981. Fisheries ecology and management, management of tropical natural resources.
  • Richard J. Neves, Professor; Ph.D., Massachusetts, 1977. Stream ecology, endangered mollusks, freshwater mussels.
  • Tammy J. Newcomb, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Virginia, 1997. Management of regulated rivers, watershed restoration, stream temperature modeling.
  • John J. Ney, Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1973. Population ecology, reservoir fisheries, trophic dynamics, environmental impact assessment.
  • Donald J. Orth, Professor; Ph.D., Oklahoma State, 1980. Fisheries management, fish population dynamics, modeling stream habitat management.
  • James A. Parkhurst, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Penn State, 1989. Wildlife damage management, management of forest and wetland habitats.
  • Patrick F. Scanlon, Professor; Ph.D., Ireland, 1970. Reproductive and environmental physiology of wildlife, environmental contamination; wildlife toxicology; vertebrate pest management.
  • Dean F. Stauffer, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Idaho, 1983. Wildlife-habitat relationships and analysis, habitat evaluation, neotropical migratory birds.
  • Michael R. Vaughn, Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1979. Population ecology, large game management, waterfowl management.

Department of Forestry

  • Gregory S. Amacher, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 1993. Natural resource policy design, international trade/finance, econometrics.
  • W. Michael Aust, Associate Professor; Ph.D., North Carolina State, 1989. Forested wetland ecology and management, forest hydrology.
  • Gregory J. Buhyoff, Julian N. Cheatham Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 1974. Visual impact modeling, decision support systems.
  • James A. Burger, Professor; Ph.D., Florida, 1979. Management of forest soils, sustaining forest land productivity.
  • Harold E. Burkhart, Thomas M. Brooks Professor; Ph.D., Georgia, 1969. Modeling forest stand development; application of statistical methods.
  • Carolyn A. Copenheaver, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Penn State, 2000.
  • Thomas R. Fox, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Florida, 1989.
  • Thomas V. Gallagher, Instructor; M.S., Virginia Tech, 1984. Industrial forestry operations.
  • Harry L. Haney Jr., Garland Gray Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 1975. Forestry investment analysis, taxation, management of private timberland; conservation easements.
  • R. Bruce Hull, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1984. Human dimensions, visual quality, recreation.
  • James E. Johnson, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1981. Silviculture of Appalachian hardwoods and southern pines.
  • Jeffrey L. Kirwan, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Virginia, 1997. 4-H and youth education, forest and wildlife ecology, climate change, paleoecology.
  • W. David Klemperer, Professor; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1971. Forest investment analysis, taxation, risk analysis.
  • Jeffrey L. Marion, Adjunct Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Minnesota, 1984. Park and wilderness recreation resource management, recreation ecology.
  • Richard G. Oderwald, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Georgia, 1975. Forest inventory and modelling, GPS, GIS.
  • Stephen P. Prisley, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1989. Quantitative and spatial analysis of natural resources for management planning.
  • Philip J. Radtke, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Michigan, 1998. Forest modeling, inventory, and sampling.
  • Marion R. Reynolds, Professor; Ph.D., Stanford, 1972. Statistical quality control, model validation.
  • Joseph W. Roggenbuck, Professor; Ph.D., Utah State, 1975. Wilderness and backcountry recreation management.
  • John R. Seiler, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1984. Southern pine ecophysiology, stress physiology, actinorrhizal nitrogen fixation, water relations.
  • Robert M. Shaffer, Professor; Ph.D., Missouri, 1982. Timber harvesting, economic analysis of industrial forestry operations.
  • Jay Sullivan, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1988. Forest planning methods and operations research, economic impact analysis.
  • Jan M. Visser, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Bodenkultur (Austria), 1998. Forest engineering and harvesting.
  • Harold W. Wisdom, Professor; Ph.D., SUNY College of Forestry, 1967. International forestry, econometric analysis of forest industry.
  • Randolph H. Wynne, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin–Madison, 1995. Remote sensing and GIS in natural resource management.
  • Shepard M. Zedaker, Professor; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1980. Regeneration ecology, chemical silviculture, plant competition.

Department of Wood Science and Forest Products

  • Robert J. Bush, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1989. Marketing of wood and wood-based products, international trade.
  • J. Daniel Dolan, Professor; Ph.D., British Columbia, 1989. Response of wood structures to dynamic loads, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
  • Charles E. Frazier, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1992. Wood adhesives and adhesion, surface chemistry, polymers and plastics.
  • Wolfgang G. Glasser, Professor; Ph.D., Hamburg (Germany), 1969. Wood-derived polymers and composites; lignin utilization.
  • A. L. Hammett, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Georgia. Utilization and marketing of special forest products, world forestry; international trade and marketing.
  • Richard F. Helm, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin–Madison, 1987. Wood chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology.
  • Frederick A. Kamke, Professor; Ph.D., Oregon State, 1983. Composite wood products, heat and mass transfer in wood.
  • D. Earl Kline, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Texas A&M, 1987. Industrial engineering in wood products manufacturing systems.
  • Fred M. Lamb, Professor; Ed.D., Penn State, 1980. Wood processing and machining, furniture manufacturing processes.
  • Joseph R. Loferski, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1985. Structural design with wood, preservation of historic structures.
  • Robert L. Smith, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1994. Forest products marketing/management, wood processing.
  • Marshall S. White, Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1975. Primary processing, lumber and pallet manufacturing, pallet design, unit load design.
  • Maurice W. White, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1995. Timber structures under dynamic stresses.
  • Janice Wiedenbeck, Adjunct Associate Professor; Ph.D., Virginia Tech, 1992. Secondary wood processing.
  • Paul M. Winistorfer, Professor and Department Head; Ph.D., Iowa State, 1985.
  • Frank E. Woeste, Adjunct Professor; Ph.D., Purdue, 1975, PE. Probabilstic approach to structural design, wood mechanics.
  • Audrey G. Zink-Sharp, Associate Professor; Ph.D., SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 1992. Experimental stress analysis.

Details on individual faculty members and their research interests may be found on the College's home page (http://www.cnr.vt.edu).

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