SNRAS’s newest post-doctoral candidate Thomas Grant (pictured above) comes to Alaska after a long stint with the Denver Botanic Garden, where he researched rare plant conservation and invasive plant management.
For the past year in Alaska he has been completing his PhD and assisting Professor Glenn Juday in his dendrochronology work, studying the changes in the boreal forest and interactions with climate.
Grant grew up outside of Chicago and earned a B.S. in environmental science at the University of Denver and a master’s in environmental science at the University of Colorado Denver. His master’s thesis focused on rare plants in western Colorado and insect predation. He earned his PhD at Colorado State University, researching how invasive plants interact with the soil and how feedback affects a plant’s invasiveness, including microorganisms, nutrients and invertebrates’ interactions with plants.
He journeyed north when his wife Corrie Knapp became a RAP student at UAF. His post-doc research will include studying the quality of caribou’s winter habitat and how habitat quality is related to forest succession and development (fire and lichens). “We’re seeking better information on the quality of habitat and what to expect from changing fire regimes and climate,” Grant said.
Grant is also an adjunct professor, teaching Natural Resources Management 101 this fall. The class draws one of the largest student pools SNRAS has. Associate Professor Susan Todd, who ordinarily teaches NRM 101, is on sabbatical this year so the class is led by Dean and Director Carol Lewis, Associate Dean Stephen Sparrow and Professor John Yarie, with Grant the instructor of record.
“I’m excited,” Grant said. “I like teaching. I enjoyed it at the botanic garden and the University of Denver and I was a guest lecturer at CSU.”
He said he will try to convey to students that if they like the outdoors, careers in natural resource management are an excellent path. “You work to manage and conserve the land properly,” he said. “It’s a great track; it’s a job with meaning in things you care about. It’s dynamic and you never know what you are going to be doing. You might be at your computer in the morning and in a helicopter by afternoon.”
In his free time, Grant enjoys mountain climbing, snowboarding, skateboarding, botanizing, traveling, bicycle touring and spending time with his wife.
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