Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Jess Hartshorn is an Associate Research Professor at Central State University in Southwest Ohio where she studies invasive species and disturbance in relation to forest health. She has been active in IUFRO since 2018 and is currently the Coordinator of the "Ecology and management of bark and wood boring insects" working party (7.03.05). Her students have investigated the movement of laurel wilt disease through native sassafras, the effects of mesopredator exclusion on nutrient cycling insects, the effects of prescribed fire on bark beetles of pine trees, and the ecological effects of invasive trees such as Pyrus calleryana. She is also currently a MS student in Mental Health Counseling and incorporates psychological principles into her work on natural resources. Dr. Hartshorn helped establish the Queer in Life Sciences registered student organization at Clemson and uses her voice to advocate for women and minorities in STEM.
Dr. Katharina Budde is a biologist specialized in population genetics and genomics of forest tree species. She studied biology at the University of Marburg in Germany and the University of Costa Rica and obtained her PhD degree at the University Complutense in Madrid. She has worked in several forest research institutes and universities in Spain, France, Denmark and Germany. Currently she is the acting head of the section “Forest Genetic Analyses” at the Northwest German Forest Research Institute. In her work she aims to understand evolutionary processes in forest tree species in order to develop sustainable conservation and management strategies. For example, she is interested in understanding the genetic basis of susceptibility to tree diseases or the effects of environmental conditions on the genetic structure and local adaptations in forest tree species.
Mee-Sook Kim is a Research Plant Pathologist at the U.S. Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Mee-Sook grew up in Seoul, South Korea and received her B.S. and first M.S. at universities in South Korea. Subsequently, she received her second M.S. (Forestry) and Ph.D. (Plant Pathology) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in U.S. She has spent her career working in the fields of forest pathology/genetics research and education. Before joining U.S. Forest Service, Mee-Sook served as a Professor for Kookmin University in South Korea, primarily conducting forest pathology research and teaching forest pathology/genetics courses. As a Research Plant Pathologist at the U.S. Forest Service, Mee-Sook’s research focuses on molecular genetic approaches to help management of diverse forest diseases caused by native and invasive pathogens under changing environmental conditions. Currently, Mee-Sook is collaborating with universities and international institutions, and she looks forward to building new opportunities for collaborative research.
Dr. Quynh Dang is a forest pathologist at the Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences. Her work focuses on understanding and managing diseases in both natural and plantation forests, including acacias, eucalyptus, macadamia, cinnamon, and other native species, as well as the Ngoc Linh ginseng. She also works on major biosecurity threats, including Phytophthora, Fusarium, Ceratocystis, Colletotrichum, Diaporthe, and many other pathogens. Over the past years, she has led and contributed to national and regional projects on integrated pest and disease management, forest landscape restoration and sustainable forest management, often linking field evidence with policy and community practice. She completed her PhD in Conservation Science at Murdoch University, Australia, and she still maintain contact with her supervisor at Murdoch University and experts at Sunshine Coast University for collaboration and information exchange on the pests and diseases of Vietnam. She enjoys working with ethnic minority groups, forest rangers, and local communities through training courses and field activities focused on forest health and biosecurity.
Shae Swanepoel is a a PhD Genetics candidate based at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria. Her interests include quantitative genetics and functional genomics to explore the defence potential of Eucalyptus. Using an integrated systems-genetics approach, She is investigating the transcriptomic responses of Eucalyptus to multiple biotic interactions and examining the natural variation in defence traits within a common garden population. Her work aims to identify the molecular mechanisms shaping disease resistance to support the development of more resilient Eucalyptus plantations.
Beyond her research, she is committed to fostering mentorship and skills development among young women in science. She is passionate about supporting women in forestry and improving accessibility of computational biology for students.