BLACKSBURG, Va., September 24, 2008 – Dr. Gwenlyn Busby recently joined the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation in the College of Natural Resources as an assistant professor.

Busby’s primary interest is the use of economic analysis to inform sustainable resource management and policy.  She has research experience and ongoing interest in the areas of wildfire risk management, incentive-based policy design, and conservation.  Much of her work focuses on landscapes with mixed ownership and the interaction between landowners in their resource management decisions.  She is particularly interested in issues where there are cross-ownership spatial interdependencies, where decisions made by one landowner have a direct impact on neighboring landowners’ values.  In addition to these research interests, she will be teaching Forest Resource Policy (FOR 4434) this spring and is very excited to meet and interact with the undergraduate students at Virginia Tech.

Busby received her B.A. degree in Economics from Middlebury College, her Master of Environmental Science from Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Forest Resources from Oregon State University.  In addition to her academic training, Busby has worked for the Bureau of Land Management in Salmon, Idaho and for the U.S. Forest Service at the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Oregon on wildfire, wildlife, restoration, and forestry projects.

Dr. Busby may be reached at:
Dr. Gwenlyn Busby
Assistant Professor
Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; 310 Cheatham Hall
Email: gbusby@vt.edu, Phone: 231-1423, Fax: 231-3330
Webpage: http://www.forestry.vt.edu/Faculty/GwenlynBusby.html