Welcome from the faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management (FERM). The new FERM department is a product of the recent reorganization of the College of Forestry, combining elements of the Forest Resources, Forest Engineering and Forest Science faculties. As we begin our first year of operation, our aim will be to maintain and enhance traditional areas of strength and to realize the great potential from our new mix of research and teaching specialties.

In the transition to a new administrative organization, there will be no changes in the undergraduate or graduate degree programs previously offered in forest engineering or forest management. The SAF-accredited degree in Forest Management. is administered in FERM. We also offer three forest engineering undergraduate degree options. The forest engineering and forest engineering - civil engineering degrees are both fully accredited in engineering (ABET EAC) and forestry (SAF). The third option is the new, SAF-accredited, forest operations management degree. This degree includes a minor in business and focuses more on harvesting or silvicultural projects. All four degrees lead to excellent employment opportunities. In addition to high quality classrooms and labs on campus, we have a 11,500-acre college-owned forest just 20 minutes from campus that provides excellent opportunities for field exercises.

If you are interested in a graduate degree, we invite you to explore our concentrations in forest resources, forest engineering, forest science, forest hydrology and forest soil science. You might also explore the OSU Water Resources Graduate Program. Many students customize degree programs that integrate elements of several areas. We typically have a diverse group of students representing several continents, so the education goes well beyond the classroom.

FERM faculty members are recognized research leaders and several provide leadership in international scientific organizations. The faculty pursues a wide range of basic and applied research projects on topics that include: silviculture; forest health and fire management; harvesting process engineering; assessing regional, national and international forest products markets; transportation system design; growth and yield modeling; understanding and mitigating environment impacts of forestry activities; issues in forest sampling; spatially-explicit landscape modeling; the economics of commodity and environmental services trade-offs; applications of emerging information technologies; forestry workforce issues; and basic hydrological sciences. In addition, we have developed several decision-support software programs for designing forest operations and computer-based forest growth models that are widely used by practitioners.

Promotion of high quality forest management and well-reasoned public policy is a long-standing tradition of the OSU College of Forestry. The new FERM department continues in that tradition by conveying research and management information to practitioners, the public, and policy makers through publications, and presentations. In addition, we offer a diverse slate of continuing education courses, many of which are led by the Extension faculty in the department.
Browse through the Forest Engineering, Resources and Management web site to learn more about our programs and us. We welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.

Kindest regards,

Darius Adams
Interim Department Head