Harvard Forest Announces 2023-2024 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research

The Charles Bullard fellowship program supports advanced research and study by individuals who show promise of making an important contribution, either as scholars or administrators, to forestry and forest-related subjects including biology, earth sciences, economics, politics, administration, philosophy, humanities, the arts, or law. Harvard Forest is pleased to announce the upcoming 2023-2024 Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research, each of whom will be joining us in the fall of 2023.

Meghan Blusteim is an NSF (National Science Foundation) Postdoctoral Fellow. Her primary research interest is the local adaptation of red oak (Quercus rubra). Her Bullard Fellowship will be spent examining the genes and alleles that enable local adaptation of red oak to global change. She earned her PhD at Harvard University, where she also received the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Cheryll Holley is the Sonksq (chief) Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band. Her research is on Indigenous-centered Forest Management. She plans to spend her Bullard Fellowship creating forest management plans that center the Nipmuc community's relationships with their more than human kin. She holds a degree in History from Worcester State College, and she is a previous Mellon Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice, Brown University. 

Zhanshan (Sam) Ma is professor and PI of Computational Biology and Medical Ecology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and he holds a double PhD in Computer Science and Entomology. He plans to conduct a cross-scale investigation of forest-soil microbiomes using metacommunity networks, evolutionary games, fault-tolerance theory, and AI approaches. 

Noah McDonald is the Land and Research Coordinator at Southeastern African American Farmers' Organic Network. His research interests center on native grass and forb restoration and conservation grazing. He will spend his Bullard Fellowship identifying, collecting, and propagating native grasses and forbs. He has a dual BS degree in Biology and Religious Studies from Guilford College. 

Maciej Zwieniecki is a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, CA. His primary research is on plant biophysics, tree physiology, ecophysiology, plant water relations, tree non-carbohydrate management. He earned his PhD in tree ecophysiology at Oregon State University. 

While we look forward to working with this great cohort in the fall, we're also enjoying collaborations with our current Bullard Fellowship recipients.