Renewable Natural Resources (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here. 

Program Overview

LSU has a long tradition in natural resource education and research, beginning with its first forestry class in 1911 and continuing to the present School of Renewable Natural Resources. The importance of renewable resources to Louisiana is evident in the $4 billion annual economic impact to the state from natural resource commodities (e.g., timber harvesting, wood products, recreational hunting, hunting leases, recreational and commercial fishing). However, the benefits of sustaining viable natural resources go far beyond their economic value and include a diversity of ecosystem services, including storm amelioration, water quality improvement, wildlife habitat, hydrologic processing, and maintenance of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. Today, programs in the school are focused on both basic and applied research and teaching in the fields of aquaculture, fisheries, forestry, forest products, watershed function, wetlands, and wildlife. The school has established close working relationships with private landowners, private industry, commodity groups, nonprofit conservation groups, and federal and state agencies, both in the U.S. and abroad. Combined with the research expertise of the school’s faculty, the abundance and diversity of renewable natural resources in Louisiana provide a rich environment for graduate study.

Administration

Admission

All supporting materials and applications for graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School: www.lsu.edu/gradapply. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials supplied by third-party sources must be mailed to: Graduate Student Services, 114 West David Boyd Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. All documents will be scanned and stored electronically, and faculty in the School of Renewable Natural Resources will have access to all material submitted by and/or on behalf of a student applying for graduate study. International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL (minimum 213 on computer-based, 550 on paper-based, or 79 on Internet-based exams), IELTS (minimum 6.5) score, or PTE (minimum 59) score. The following documents should accompany all applications submitted to the Graduate School: transcript(s) of undergraduate study, transcript(s) of all graduate work, GRE scores (verbal and quantitative), three letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose. The statement of purpose should include:

1. Educational and work experience in the chosen area of concentration.
2. Educational goals and career plans.
3. Reasons for pursuing graduate studies in the school.
4. A brief outline of research interests and potential thesis topics.
5. Any other information that would assist faculty members with their admission recommendation.

If Graduate School admissions criteria are met, all documents will be forwarded to the graduate advisor in the school and evaluated by the appropriate faculty group for an admission recommendation. Applicants should adhere to the February 1 deadline established by the Graduate School for the following fall semester.

Financial Assistance

Graduate research and teaching assistantships are awarded to incoming graduate students on a competitive basis and typically range from $16,000 to $20,000 per year. Outstanding applicants in forestry-related areas of research are eligible to compete for Gilbert Foundation Assistantships, which range from $22,000 to $25,000 per year and include a full tuition exemption. Rockefeller Scholarships, with awards of $1,000 per year, are available to Louisiana students and to out-of-state students after one year of residence in the state. Wildlife students conducting waterfowl research are eligible to compete for the Bosch Memorial Assistantship. All graduate students can apply for small travel grants from The Graduate School to attend scientific meetings, and wildlife and fisheries students are also eligible for Glasgow Travel Grants administered by the school. To be considered for fellowships and state-funded assistantships, applications must be received by August 15 for the following spring semester and February 1 for the following fall semester.

Graduate Faculty

(check current listings by department by clicking this link)

Fisheries and Aquaculture

Julie A. Anderson (6A) • Marine fisheries research and extension
James W. Avault (EM) • Aquaculture
C. Fred Bryan (EM) • Atchafalaya and Mississippi River ecology, estuarine nursery function
Allyse Ferrara (3F) • Fisheries management and ecology
Christopher C. Green (M) • Physiology and nutrition of aquatic organisms
Michael D. Kaller (3F) • Stream fisheries, macroinvertebrate ecology, statistical analyses
William E. Kelso (M) • Fisheries management, fish-habitat interactions, fish ecology
Megan LaPeyre (3F) • Wetland fisheries, plant ecology, wetland ecology, coastal marsh management
Charles G. Lutz (3A) • Aquaculture and fisheries extension
William Ray McClain (3F) • Crawfish aquaculture
Bryan P. Piazza (3F) • Fisheries ecology, aquatic system management
Robert C. Reigh (M) • Fish and crustacean nutrition, feed development, feeding methods
Brian J. Roberts (3F) • Stream ecology and metabolism
Robert P. Romaire (M) • Water quality management, crustacean aquaculture, crawfish production
Lawrence P. Rozas (3F) • Estuarine function and the dynamics of estuarine organisms
D. Allen Rutherford (7M) • Lotic fish assemblages, ecology of larval and juvenile fish
John E. Supan (3F) • Molluscan shellfish culture, management, depuration, and sanitation
Rowland Glenn Thomas (3P) • Marine and freshwater fisheries management
Terrance Tiersch (M) • Molecular genetics, hybridization, polyploidy, cryopreservation
Huiping Yang (3F) • Genetics and gamete cryopreservation

Forestry

Michael A. Blazier (3F) • Forest management, timber production, fertilization
Quang V. Cao (M) • Mensuration, forest biometrics
Jim L. Chambers (M) • Forest ecology and tree physiology
S. Joseph Chang (M) • Forest economics, wood products utilization and marketing
Terry Clason (EM) • Intensive pine silviculture
Thomas J. Dean (M) • Quantitative silviculture, production ecology, stand dynamics
Hallie Dozier (3F) • Population demography of invasive plant species, ecology of plant invasions
Thomas Eberhardt (3F) • Wood chemistry, wood quality, forest health, new applications and technologies
Cornelis de Hoop (M) • Environmental safety and business in forest products
Chung-Yun Hse (3F) • Wood composites and adhesives
Richard F. Keim (7M) • Ecology, management, and restoration of bottomland hardwood ecosystems
Kenneth W. Krauss (3F) • Coastal forest ecology and management
Zhijun Liu (7M) • Tree physiology, cultivation of medicinal plants, micropropagation
Hui Pan (3F) • Forest products, recycling
Yadong Qi (3F) • Urban forestry, forest biology
Todd F. Shupe (3F) • Wood and wood composites, treated wood recycling, fiber utilization
Richard P. Vlosky (3F) • Wood products marketing, technology applications to improve wood products
Qinglin Wu (3F) • Wood drying moisture relationships, and hygroscopic shrinkage and swelling
Yi-Jun Xu (M) • Hydrologic and biogeochemical processes and modeling

Wildlife

Alan D. Afton (3F) • Avian behavioral ecology and bioenergetics, waterfowl ecology and management
Robert Chabreck (EM) • Ecology of marsh vegetation, dynamics of marsh-dwelling wildlife
Robert B. Hamilton (EM) • Avian ecology
Sammy L. King (3F) • Wetland ecology, wildlife and habitat management
James M. LaCour (3F) • Wildlife diseases and epizootics
John Andrew Nyman (M) • Wetland wildlife management and ecology, coastal marsh management
Philip C. Stouffer (M) • Conservation biology, avian ecology, neotropical migratory birds
Sabrina S. Taylor (6A) • Conservation genetics, management of rare species
Michael J. Chamberlain (3F) • Wildlife management, mammal ecology
Alfred D. French (3F) • Cotton fiber moisture, carbohydrate chemistry
Erik I. Johnson (3F) • Avian ecology, tropical bird habitat conservation
Thomas E. Moorman (3F) • Waterfowl ecology and management
Cheng Piao (3F) • Wood science, forest products

Programs

• Renewable Natural Resources, Ph.D.

• Renewable Natural Resources, M.S.