Mariapaola Riggio Reem Hajjar Jazmin Gonzales Tovar Patricia Vega Gutierrez STORIES OF GLOBAL IMPACT Across countries and continents, our research is changing the world In partnership with United States Agency for International Development and the U.S. Forest Service International programs, Associate Professor Reem Hajjar has been leading a College of Forestry initiative to enhance teaching and research capacity at two Peruvian forestry universities, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, and Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana. The initiative will ultimately graduate 12 Peruvian students from the college’s Master of Natural Resources program. In addition to the MNR degrees, post-doctoral scholar Jazmin Gonzales Tovar led research with the students as co-researchers, working with various Indigenous peoples, on making informal forest institutions and enterprises in the Pervuian Amazon more visible. ECUADOR Building on the success of the Peru project, Hajjar is working with USFS International Programs to have eight Ecuadorian students from various universities and government agencies complete the college’s Forests and Climate Change Certificate, as well as pedagogy and leadership classes, to advance these topics in their home institutions. PANAMA In collaboration with Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Centro de Estudios y Acción Social Panameño, Associate Professor Reem Hajjar is initiating a research collaboration on forest restoration governance in the Indigenous territory in Panama — Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca — to better understand how international forest carbon projects interact with local and traditional customs, institutions and livelihoods. CAMBODIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM Hajjar is also continuing her National Science Foundation funded work on community forestry in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, in collaboration with The Center for People and Forests, a regional NGO, to assess the impacts of community forests on forest cover, forest biodiversity and community livelihoods. PERU Mariapaola Riggio, associate professor, and Patricia Vega, director of the Wood Based Composite Center, recently welcomed a group of distinguished USDA Cochran Fellows from Peru. The fellows, associated with universities across Peru, explored a diverse range of wood products manufacturers, cutting-edge research at laboratories and observed construction practices at various sites in the Pacific Northwest to learn about the U.S. construction industry and softwood products. The visit was made possible through the USDA Cochran Fellowship Program that promotes the utilization of high-quality U.S. softwood products and aligns with the broader vision of fostering a sustainable construction sector in Peru. Special thanks: City of Portland, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Jensen Hughes, Michael Thrailkill, CORRIM, Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute, Truebeck Construction, Andersen Construction, APA (The Engineered Wood Association), Freres Engineered Wood, Modern Building Systems, Boise Cascade, Roseburg Forest Products, Interfor, Royal Pacific, University of Oregon, TallWood Design Institute and the COF Wood Science and Engineering Department. 8 COLLEGE OF FORESTRY Loren Albert BRAZIL, PANAMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA (PAN-TROPICAL) Assistant Professor Loren Albert and her research group are tackling two international projects. The first, funded by NSF, focuses on the ecohydrology of Amazon forests. The other, funded by NASA, aims to advance
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