Welcome from the
Forest Engineering Department faculty, staff, and students. This
department is widely recognized for excellence in student education,
creative
problem-solving research, and innovative outreach education focused on
forested watersheds. The faculty represents a mix of engineers,
hydrologists, and
forest scientists that apply engineering and forestry principles
to solve complex
forestry problems and support sustainable forests. Our faculty and graduates
are in demand worldwide to provide knowledge, methods, and skills to design
and carry out safe, economically viable, environmentally responsible,
and socially
acceptable forest resource operations.
We
offer three undergraduate degree options.
The forest engineering and forest engineering - civil engineering
are both fully accredited in engineering (ABET EAC)
and forestry
(SAF). At
last count, OSU is one of only three universities in the United
States to offer an undergraduate degree in forest engineering.
For both of these degrees our educational goal is to offer
an engineering education within a strong forestry context.
Graduation from either
degree option provides access to careers as licensed professional
engineers and professional land surveyors. The third option is
the brand new forest operations management degree. This degree
includes a minor in business and focuses more on harvesting
or silvicultural projects. We will seek SAF accreditation
for this program. Graduates are not eligible to pursue professional
engineering registration. All three 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 and for recreation.
If you are interested in a graduate degree,
we invite you to explore our concentrations in forest engineering,
forest hydrology and forest soil science. You might also explore
the OSU Water
Resources Graduate Program. After Oregon passed the nation's
first Forest Practices Act in 1971, forest hydrologists were
added to the department to stimulate improved protection of water
and soil resources during forestry activities. Many students
customize degree programs that integrate elements of both areas.
We typically have a diverse group of students representing
several continents, so the education goes well beyond the classroom.
Many FE faculty members are recognized research leaders
and several provide leadership in international scientific organizations. The
faculty is pursuing a wide range of basic and applied research projects on
topics that include: harvesting process engineering, transportation system
design, understanding and mitigating environment impacts of forestry activities,
spatially-explicit landscape modeling, applications of emerging information
technologies, forestry workforce issues, and basic hydrological sciences. In
addition, we have developed several decision-support software programs used
throughout the world in designing forest operations.
Finally, we are proud of our longstanding efforts to promote
high quality forest management and well-reasoned public policy
and regulation by conveying information to practitioners, the
public, and policy makers. In addition to many kinds of publications,
we offer a diverse slate of continuing
education courses, many of which are led by the Extension
faculty in the department.
I invite you to browse through the Forest Engineering web site
to learn more about our programs and us. We welcome your questions,
comments, and suggestions.
Steve Tesch
Department Head
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