Meet Our Faculty
- Dr. Libin Thaikkattil Louis
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Assistant Professor of Forestry
Dr. Libin Thaikkattil Louis is an Assistant Professor of Forestry at UMFK. Dr. Louis received his PhD in Forest Resources from the University of Maine in 2021. His doctoral research focussed on the economic constraints of timber harvesting, developing a novel model for the small diameter tree market scenario for the region, and exploring the perspectives of forestry stakeholders in the Northeastern states. Previously, he had been trained as a landscape ecologist exploring the importance of landscape composition and configuration on biodiversity in agricultural farms as part of his master’s in forestry from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He has also completed his bachelor’s in forestry from Kerala Agricultural University in Kerala, India.
Published in well known forestry peer-reviewed journals such as International Journal of Forest Engineering, Forests, and Current Forestry Reports. Dr. Louis has remained at the forefront of research in his field of study. He has presented his research at various regional, national, and international conferences such as Symposium on Forestry Mechanization, Council of Forest Engineers, and International Congress on Conservation Biology. His current research interests are biomass and bioenergy, economics of timber harvesting, and reducing the environmental impacts of forest management in the Northeast United States.
Dr. Louis is a seasoned subject matter expert and presenter. He is proficient in several advanced analysis softwares utilized in scientific research as well as in the forest industry. Dr. Louis will be teaching forestry classes such as Introduction to Global Positioning; Forest Ecology; Forest Products, Harvesting, and Transportation, and Forest Mensuration. In his free time, Dr. Louis enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and photography.
- Neil Thompson
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Irving Woodlands Forestry Professor
Dr. Neil Thompson, Ph.D. Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Northern British Columbia, 2017; B.Sc. Forestry, University of Maine, 2013.
Dr. Thompson is the academic advisor for all incoming first-year Forestry students, teaches Introduction to Forestry, and leads the Cooperative Forestry Research Unit. He coordinates the spruce budworm overwintering population monitoring program for the CFRU, which provides many opportunities for student employment. His research work includes a long-term stream monitoring project geared towards predicting temperature regimes for headwater streams in northern Maine. In addition to his formal research capacity, Neil looks after both greenhouses on campus, a plantation of American chestnut in the Fournier BioPark, and a collection of 200+ nest boxes for songbirds, ducks, native solitary bees, and bats that form the basis of senior research projects in the Environmental Studies program.