Cindy Cifuentes
Master of Forestry ‘25
Cindy is interested in understanding how traditional rural silvicultural practices and theories can be applied to urban natural area management. She is currently working on the Drone Zone Project at Yale-Myers Forest trying to assess how UAV-derived forest measurements can be calibrated with ground field measurements to assess forest structure and composition.
Jackson Cooper
Master of Forestry ‘25
Jackson is interested in the ways forests can contribute to climate resilience in both urban and non-urban settings. His current research focuses on the shading benefits provided by street trees in New Haven. Originally from Colorado, he is also interested in the resilience of western forests, especially around wildfire mitigation and watershed protection. As an undergrad at Columbia University, Jackson studied anthropology with a focus on ethnobotany.
Ruolin (“Eudora”) Miao
Master of Forest Science
Coming from Sichuan, southwest China, Eudora loves the spicy food, mountains, and the fantastic biodiversity of her home province. She developed a passion for trees and restoration during her reforestation service in Costa Rica and land stewardship work in Wisconsin. She is in the initial stage of developing her master’s research, and hope that her research will inform practices in reforestation.
Austin Dziki
Master of Forestry
Austin studied Biological Sciences at the University of Vermont where he conducted a study on evolutionary relationships in the Caribbean as a result of island biogeography and conducted further research in behavioral ecology at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He became more interested in forest ecology through his work as a research assistant for Mark Ashton at the Yale School Forests. Now a Master student at Yale, he spent a his summer field season as a research fellow at the University of Rwanda connecting his background in island biogeography and behavioral ecology to forest ecology by studying the edge effect on the regeneration of large-seeded, animal dispersed tree species in a small forest fragment. He is interested in further integrating seed dispersal and regeneration dynamics into natural regeneration strategies for forest restoration.