Research Paper/Study/Grant

[rfwoodvt]

Not sure if this is the best forum category for this Tom, so feel free to shuffle it where it is best.

I've connecetd with a couple of students (one from Cornell and one from WPI) who wanted to do an internship in urban forestry with me.

I came up with the idea of working with them on a research study that has been stewing in the back of my mind involving several Acer species and SGRs.

Since doing a study is new territory for me I have several questions that need to answering before we can get going.

I was hoping folks here might have some insight.

First off, we need to identify and review any existing studies involving Acer species and SGRs. So, if you happen to know of any please let me know so I can get ahold of them for review.

Second, we need to identify any grant sources we can apply to. We have several in mind and aside from the tree fund we don't have any that lean towards arboriculture. Any suggestions here would be most helpful.

Lastly, it would benefit us greatly if we could talk to people who have done research papers and/or written grants so we can learn about the process, pitfalls and how to leverage our strengths.

If any of you folks have written papers, grants or studies please regale me with your stories as right now I know less than nothing! Also, if you might be able to introduce me to someone who has (maybe someone like a Gilman, Urban or Coder) I would also be muy grateful.

Thanks in advance!

 

[guymayor]

A most worthy endeavor!

NUCFAC gives out a lot of cash but you gotta speak their lingo. Does either student have a professor who might want to oversee this as Independent Study? Put your tax dollars to work by checking with the department at Cornell; Nina Bassuk et al.

The biblio in the attached would be a start, and watson's done more on norways, plus youtube, http://www.isa-arbor.com/education/resources/educ_portal_rootgrowth_citations.pdf and the va tech gang did the lit review http://www.isa-arbor.com/education/resources/educ_Portal_RootGrowth_AUF.pdf

 

[KevinS]

What about the acers are you looking at? The silvics, structure, strength of wood, growth patterns...? Can you be a bit more specific?

 

[guymayor]

What about the previous notion of cataloging the top ten pests?
Might be more doable...

 

[KTSmith]

Thanks Rick for your interest in helping students! Your post is good as are the others. Guy's got some good ideas there.

As for relevant published literature and how to find it...that's a key part to this enterprise. If the students are interested in the research process, they need to gain the experience to use the available databases. By "available" I mean the public ones such as "Google Scholar" (better than regular Google for research)plus the "by subscription" ones they should have access to through their institutions such as "Web of Science" and "Scopus" and "Science Direct". If they don't know about those, they need to learn! The skill is in coming up with search terms that provide useful hits and don't provide too many tangential or marginally useful ones. That is an art.
In the publication search, I'd suggest allowing yourself to look at other diffuse porous hardwoods and not just the specific maples of interest.