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Faculty Profile
Ruth Yanai

Ruth  Yanai

Distinguished Professor

Orange horizontal rule

176 Baker

315-470-4868
rdyanai@esf.edu

Highest Education

Ph.D. Yale University (Forest Ecology), 1990.

Areas of Study

Courses Taught

Current Graduate Advisees

Jake BeidlerJake Beidler
jbeidler@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
  • Area of Study: Forest Resources Management

Graduate Research Topic
Microbial communities in decomposing wood

Favorite Quote
"It's okay to get butterflies in your stomach, you just teach them to fly in perfect formation." - Trixie Matel

Oswaldo CarrilloOswaldo Carrillo
oicarril@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: PHD
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai and Stehman
  • Area of Study: Forest Resources Management

Personal Statement
Oswaldo Carrillo has a master's degree in applied statistics from the Colegio de Postgraduados, he has 10 years of experience in the area of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for REDD+. He has carried out different statistical analyzes on MRV for REDD+ and has carried out MRV trainings in different countries in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. From 2016 to 2021, he was the head of CONAFOR's MRV system for REDD+, in which he coordinated the preparation of two national GHG inventories in the land sector, a national Forest Emission Reference Level (NREF), a subnational Forest Reference (NRF), a national REDD+ performance report, among others. He is an active member of the roster of experts of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the technical assessments of FREL / NRF. Currently, he is a member of the Latin-American and Caribbean SilvaCarbon team (through the US Forest Service) as a “Latin America SilvaCarbon Greenhouse Gas Estimation Statistical Expert” and he is a doctoral student at the Environmental Sciences and Forestry Collage of the State University of New York.

Graduate Research Topic
Methods to improve uncertainties estimation of land GHG emission reductions

Erin CornellErin Cornell
ecorne01@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
  • Area of Study: Ecology and Ecosystems

Personal Statement
I'm a graduate student interested in forest ecosystem health and dynamics, particularly from the perspective of nutrient cycling.

Graduate Research Topic
Free-living N fixation and beech bark disease

Favorite Quote
“The story of a place comes forth as the landscape reveals its experience through our careful attention” - Tom Wessels

Kelley GilhoolyKelley Gilhooly
kagilhoo@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
  • Area of Study: Environmental Science

Links
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelley-gilhooly-641391143/

Personal Statement
Kelley Gilhooly has a bachelor's degree in biology from Saint Michael's College. After graduating, she worked as a seasonal biological science technician for the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon conducting stream surveys to assess the impacts of forest management practices on water quality in streams. She then worked as a conservation planner for VACD helping private land owners implement new conservation practices through various NRCS cost share programs. She is now pursuing her M.S. in Environmental Science from SUNY-ESF.

Graduate Research Topic
Nutrient cycling within temperate hardwood forests, particularly how leaf litter contributes to soil nutrient availability under N and P addition

Favorite Quote
"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science" - Edwin Powell Hubble

Sara SternickSara Sternick
sisterni@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
  • Area of Study: Forest Resources Management

Personal Statement
I graduated with a BS in Biology from UMass Amherst in 2020, with a minor in natural resource conservation. I have worked at ecology research stations in both Georgia and Oregon doing seasonal technician work, and now I am pursuing an MS at SUNY ESF!

Favorite Quote
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

Selected Publications

(All publications)

Yanai, R.D., G.E. Walsh, Y. Yang, C.A. Blodgett, K. Bae, and B.B. Park. 2018. Nutrient concentrations of roots vary with diameter, depth, and site in New Hampshire northern hardwoods. Can. J. For. Res., 48: 32-41. DOI: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0223 PDF

Yanai, R.D., C.R. See, J. L. Campbell. 2018. Current practices in uncertainty analysis in ecosystem ecology.  Ecosystems, 21(5): 971-981. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-017-0197-x  PDF

Yanai, R.D., N. Tokuchi, J.L. Campbell, M.B. Green, E. Matsuzaki, S.N. Laseter, C.L. Brown, A.S. Bailey, P. Lyons, C.R. Levine, D.C. Buso, G.E. Likens, J. Knoepp, and K. Fukushima. 2015. Sources of uncertainty in estimating stream solute export from headwater catchments at three sites. Hydrol. Processes 29: 1793–1805. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10265 PDF

Yanai, R.D., M.A. Vadeboncoeur, S.P. Hamburg, M.A. Arthur, M.A. Fuss, P.M. Groffman, T.G. Siccama, and C.T. Driscoll. 2013. From missing source to missing sink: long-term changes in a forest nitrogen budget. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47(20): 11440–11448. DOI: abs/10.1021/es4025723 PDF

Yanai, R.D., C.R. Levine, M.B. Green, and J.L. Campbell. 2012. Quantifying uncertainty in forest nutrient budgets. J. For. 110(8): 448–456. DOI: 10.5849/jof.11-087 PDF

Yanai, R.D., M.A. Arthur, M. Acker, C.R. Levine, and B.B. Park. 2012. Variation in mass and nutrient concentration of leaf litter across years and sites in New Hampshire northern hardwoods. Can. J. For. Res. 42(8): 1597–1610. DOI:10.1139/x2012-084 PDF

Yanai, R.D., J.J. Battles, A.D. Richardson, E.B. Rasetter, D.M. Wood and C. Blodgett 2010. Estimating uncertainty in ecosystem budget calculations. Ecosystems 13(2): 239–248 PDF 

Yanai, R.D., W.S. Currie, and C.L. Goodale. 2003. Soil carbon dynamics after forest harvest: an ecosystem paradigm reconsidered. Ecosystems 6: 197–212 

Yanai, R.D., M.A. Arthur, T.G. Siccama, and C.A. Federer. 2000. Challenges of measuring forest floor organic matter dynamics: repeated measures from a chronosequence. For. Ecol. Manage. 138: 273–283 PDF

Yanai, R.D., T.G Siccama, M.A. Arthur, C.A. Federer, and A.J. Friedland. 1999. Accumulation and depletion of base cations in forest floors in the northeastern US. Ecology 80: 2774–2787 PDF

Yanai, R.D. 1992. Phosphorus budget of a 70-year old northern hardwood forest. Biogeochemistry 17: 1–22 PDF