MISSISSIPPI STATE – Three Mississippi State University graduate students earned recognition for presentations on bottomland hardwoods at a recent meeting in the Delta.

The Bulldogs competed at the 60th Annual Southern Hardwood Forest Research Group Meeting held Feb. 21 in Stoneville with students from several universities around the region, including the University of Mississippi, the University of Arkansas and Louisiana Tech University.

Thomas Peterson, a master’s student at MSU in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture from Vail, Colo., took first place in the Dr. John Adams Graduate Student Poster Competition. His research proposal is titled “Wintering Waterfowl Use of Delta National Forest, Mississippi.” A native of Minnesota, Peterson completed his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, with a double major in biology and wildlife management.

Zhen Sui, a doctoral student in forestry from China, placed second, and Jacob Beard, master’s student in forestry from Elizabethtown, Ky., placed third.

Andy Ezell, forestry department head, described the meeting as well attended and highly competitive.
“We are proud of our students and the research they are conducting on bottomland hardwoods,” Ezell said. “Their research demonstrates creative thinking and knowledge of issues impacting hardwood forests.”

Ezell said the competition is named in memory of John Adams, a longtime faculty member at Louisiana Tech and most recently director of its School of Forestry. Adams had a productive career and made significant contributions to bottomland forest management before his death in November 2012.