Professor Ivan Eastin has agreed to serve as the College of the Environment’s Associate Dean for Research, effective October 16. In this role he will foster multidisciplinary collaborations, promote and support the range of basic and applied research programs across the College and University, and help faculty identify opportunities to partner and collaborate with universities and research organizations both in the US and around the world.
Eastin is a professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and director of the Center for International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR). His research focuses on the ways that forest products are traded throughout the world, looking at both marketing strategies and the dynamics of international trade, including the impacts of timber legality regulations on the trade of illegally harvested wood products. Eastin applies his training in basic wood science to develop new, innovative wood products and designs that add value to low quality timber that can help to support economic development within rural timber-dependent communities. Eastin, a US Army veteran (1976-79) and returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Liberia 1985-87), also serves as the Faculty Leader of SEFS’s Peace Corps Master’s International program, which currently has 12 students serving as Peace Corps volunteers in 6 countries.
“Ivan has led innovative international research collaborations throughout his career and I attribute his success in no small part to his ability to bridge both fundamental and applied sciences,” said Dean Lisa J. Graumlich. “I am incredibly pleased that he will now be in a position to share his talents with the entire College community.”
Eastin succeeds Bruce Nelson, the College’s first Associate Dean for Research, who accepted the chairmanship of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences last spring. Many thanks are due to the Associate Dean for Research search committee, which included Santosh Devasia (Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, College of Engineering), John Vidale (Professor, Earth and Space Sciences), Alex Gagnon (Assistant Professor, Oceanography), and Stephanie Harrington (Associate Dean for Planning & Initiatives, College of the Environment).
