College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

Dr. David Skole now calls Okemos, MI home, but has lived in Indiana and New Hampshire. He earned a Master of Science in Environmental Science at Indiana University and a PhD, at the Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampshire. He is currently teaching an undergraduate course on Forests and Climate Change and a graduate professional certificate course on Measurement and Monitoring of Forest Carbon.

What experiences in forestry did you have prior to teaching?

Even though my father was a urban-bound social worker, and my mother was a big city journalist, I grew up in a family that did a lot of car camping, a form of camping popular in the 1960s. In high school I became a passionate, but somewhat local, bird watcher, and I started my life list. I eventually went full-on wilderness in my college years -- winter camping in the Boundary Waters, hiking the App trail, and eventually scaling two mountains including Mount Ranier with RMI Expeditions and Lou Whittaker. During my undergraduate program I was a work study student in a systems ecology lab and became seriously interested in forest ecosystems. So, I enrolled in the Master’s program at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs thinking I would go into a government career working in the high Sierras or something like that. But I did an internship with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center and designed part of the environmental impact statement for the Space Shuttle launch and landing segment. After the Master’s I took a job at the University of New Hampshire working on NASA funded projects developing global forest carbon models in the 1980s. There, I also learned a lot about global-scale remote sensing of forests. At one point my supervisor, who eventually became my major professor, asked me to write a brief on tropical deforestation, and I got hooked on academic life, tropical forests, and climate change monitoring. I pursued a PhD there at a new Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space and continued on their faculty before coming to MSU in 1998. 

What inspired your interest in teaching in forestry at MSU?

My work at the global change research Institute at UNH was incredibly rewarding and exciting, and for 15 years in the 1980s and early 1990s nearly all climate change research was heavily focused on general circulation models and the global carbon cycle, which was done by a very small, tight-knit international cadre of scientists who all knew each other -- and I was lucky to have a front row seat to the show. The research team on which I worked collaborated with great scientists at Woods Hole, Oak Ridge, Goddard Space Flight Center, key European modeling centers and others. We helped set up the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the initial international arm of global change research, and then contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But, a few years after my PhD there I felt the need to move. The field was growing and by 1998 the world had fully engaged in climate change research and policy. So, when the premier land grant university reached out to me with an offer to help build a program and faculty that would focus on earth observations, land cover change and climate change, it was exactly the right thing for me at that moment. MSU was the right place to work on international forestry-related climate change and carbon cycle questions. And this is true now more than ever. At MSU I coordinate a lab, The Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services, focused on global change research, forests and climate change using global monitoring with satellites and new data analytics. Our work is funded by a range of federal agencies, international organizations, and philanthropic foundations. We work on aspects of basic research as well as policy applications related to tree-based systems, from forests to woodlands to trees outside of forests (e.g. agroforestry). We call this “actionable science”. This research translates directly to one undergraduate course (FOR360) and one graduate course (FOR837).

What has been one of your best experiences teaching so far?

Actually, there are three best experiences. First, I was asked a few years ago to develop an undergraduate course on climate change and forests. I have been extremely excited to see so many students enrolling in the course, increasing enrollment from 26 in the first year to 250 four years later. Students are eager to know more about climate change. They know that it’s a real thing and they are curious and concerned. I am excited to help them understand how forests and other ecosystems are important to the story. And, while students want to understand the problem of climate change, they keenly want to know about the solutions even more. This experience reinforces my awareness about our role in guiding students to become well-informed and active citizens. I strive to teach around the concept of natural climate solutions, which centers on how forests and their management can reduce significant emissions and the only significant way we can remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Second, the teaching experience has made it clear to me that there is a “hidden curriculum” outside the classroom. By observing how we manage the university campus we indirectly educate our students in profound ways, for better or worse – from how we produce and use energy, to the use of land and landscaping, to the production of waste and recycling. So, it was a great experience to work on a major campus sustainability initiative in which MSU became a “living laboratory” where students, faculty and staff worked together to study and reduce our environmental impact, resulting in a new recycling center, lowering emissions by moving the power plant away from coal, improving our food systems and supply chains and more. Lastly, MSU and Forestry provide great international perspectives and experiences for our students, both in courses and through study abroad opportunities. For more than a decade I have taught a study abroad course in the tropical forests of Costa Rica. It is amazing to see how students completely absorb these into-the-forest experiential learning opportunities. One day as my class was crossing a bridge over a river a large group of Howler monkeys were also crossing with us using the overhanging tree branches above us. Visually, these amazing, very social forest primates can put on a good show, including acrobatic mothers with babies on their backs. The immersive experience brought both intellectual and emotional tears to one student’s eyes. I didn’t need to give her an exam to know she got the material.  

What do you want others to know about this program?

It is important to know that Forestry at MSU is not just the study of logging. Nor are we required to wear plaid flannels, but some like to. Forestry is broad and exciting, and we are addressing some of the most important challenges of the day. Our faculty and students engage in interdisciplinary research and education. Our research has a direct and significant impact on society and the economy. Our teaching is informed by this research through professors who are actively creating the knowledge we bring to the classroom. Our program is rooted in a long history and is considered the longest running forestry department in the country. Our department is known worldwide. While doing a project in India, I visited the famous Xylarium at the Forest Research Institute of India in Dehradun, a 120-year-old archive of tree and wood specimens. In Dehradun, at the foothills of the Himalayas and the bending of the Ganges, there is a special shelf labeled “East Lansing”, which is an homage to the venerated reputation of our department (the only other such labeled shelf is “New Haven”, and even that shelf too has an MSU story behind it).

Any thoughts or advice for current students?

There was a time after receiving my master’s degree, I was working for a professor at a research institute in New Hampshire. I came to a point in where I thought I needed something more, and I told him that I was quitting to trek through Southeast Asia. His advice to me was straightforward, “David, the last thing the world needs is another American backpacking through Southeast Asia. But what ever you do from here on, be sure to make a contribution”. I thought about that a lot and decided instead to take a short vacation and return to the research projects. I started my PhD while working full time in the institute. Today I have been to Southeast Asia many times, all over the region from the forests of Borneo to the mangroves of the Mekong Delta. My advice: whatever you do, do it well and make a contribution, whether big or small, real contributions will matter. Spartans will. 

Classes currently teaching:

I teach an undergraduate course on Forests and Climate Change (FOR360) and a graduate professional certificate course on Measurement and Monitoring of Forest Carbon (FOR837). Both are online asynchronous courses.