Jamie Behan – Student on the Job
Jamie Behan graduated in 2019 with a concentration in sustainability, environmental policy, and natural resource management. The summer of her senior year, Jamie is working in the Penobscot Experimental Forest (PEF) collecting data for various ongoing experiments at PEF. The majority of the work she has done involves forest mensuration at various plots, to see how different types of silvicultural management affects the diversity of species, growth rate, and density of trees in the area. This particular study has been going on since the 1950’s. Recently, the crew has been working to help collect data on a deadwood study being conducted by Bethany Munoz, who recently received her PhD from UMaine’s School of Forest Resources and is now a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station.
Of her summer position, Behan said, “I think it’s awesome to be apart of something with that kind of weight. I am really interested in environmental studies that relate to sustainability and human resources, such as renewable energy, waste management, pollution, etc. I would love to study topics such as these one day and work towards integrating sustainable resources and lifestyle choices into society.”