Suborna Ahmed. I recently joined as an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Forest Biometrics and Computation area at UBC. Previously I was a lecturer in the Forest Resources Management Department and taught courses as a postdoctoral teaching fellow and sessional lecturer from 2014. I hold a PhD from the University of British Columbia in Forest Biometrics and I am a Statistician by training. My educational research interests include the pedagogical value of hybrid style teaching and learning, self-efficacy assessment of learning modules, effectiveness of open education materials in Forest Biometrics, and quantitative analysis courses. I am teaching statistics, forest biometrics, and programming courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. I taught various undergraduate and graduate-level Statistics and Forest Biometrics courses in the Forest Resources Management Department and Department of Statistics at UBC, University of Dhaka, East West University, Nanjing Forestry University and Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University.
My PhD research was on Meta-analysis to quantify the growth and yield of improved genetics in the Canadian Boreal Forest. I did postdoctoral researches on a quantitative quality control approach based on big data statistics to identify key process parameters in veneer drying facility, challenges to improved trees in the Canadian Boreal forest, and impacts of fertilization on yields to provide some insights on fertilization effects. My research interests include quantitative analysis of complex forestry datasets at a large scale; methods for forecasting tree growth and yield; modelling and forecasting improved genetics; meta-analysis of tree mortality, damaging agents and tree fertilization; and application of machine learning approaches in various sectors in forestry.
Bianca Eskelson. My teaching interests lie in forest biometrics and modelling. Quantitative methods are central to all forestry and natural resources disciplines. I am excited to teach applied statistics classes for forest and natural resources management to provide UBC students with strong quantitative and analytical skills.
My research focuses on the application and extension of statistical theory and methods to inventory, monitoring and modelling of forest resources and ecosystem services at a variety of scales. I am interested in the fundamental problem of analyzing and modelling non-normally distributed data and ways to account for spatial dependence and hierarchical data structures. Most recently, I have been working on quantifying disturbance effects and post-disturbance dynamics from forest inventory data and on incorporating climate sensitivity into growth and yield models.
bianca.eskelson@ubc.ca
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Valerie LeMay. I am a Registered Professional Forester in British Columbia and an officer of the International Union of Forest Researchers (IUFRO). I teach forest measurements and applied statistics for forest and other natural environments and was honored with the UBC Killam Teaching Award in 2004 (Faculty of Forestry) and also in 2011 (Faculty of Graduate Studies).
My research interests include developing methods and estimating equations for a wide variety of scales from leaves to landscapes, particularly spatio-temporal models. I have developed tree/forest growth and yield models, tested methods for integrating data sources for forest inventory, and assessed experimental trial results. I have also been fortunate to work with other researchers on a wide variety of ecosystems in all continents except Antarctica, and also on a variety of organisms, including mammals, birds, plants other than trees, fungi, fish and insects. For me, forestry encompasses all elements of forest and adjacent lands, and my profession allows me to pursue my avid curiosity of the natural world including forests, deserts, and mountain environments.
valerie.lemay@ubc.ca
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Peter Marshall. I have held a faculty position in the Faculty of Forestry for 32 years and have served as the associate dean responsible for undergraduate programs for the last 17 years. Recently, I have been actively involved with China and hold adjunct professor positions at Beijing Forestry University, Nanjing Forestry University, and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. I have been active professionally over my career, including serving as president of both the Association of BC Forest Professionals and the Canadian Institute of Forestry. I continue to serve on committees for both organizations and have a strong interest in professional certification and accreditation.
My research interests include sampling design and stand dynamics, particularly of complex stands. Although my administrative duties place heavy demands on my time, I remain active in teaching (one undergraduate course in forest inventory and an undergraduate and graduate module in professionalism and ethics) and supervising graduate student research.
peter.marshall@ubc.ca
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