The Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) recently launched a series of brown-bag lunches at which researchers present their findings to staff of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) in Montpelier. Not only does this enable ANR employees to learn about research findings first-hand and pose questions directly to the scientist, it also provides a forum for practitioners to let NSRC know what questions they would like answered by future research to help them in their work.
The inaugural presentation, by researcher Kimberly Wallin, took place on January 13, 2014. Kimberly spoke about her work on invasive pests in Vermont and the Northern Forest region. Researcher Allan Strong made the next visit on April 7. In a packed conference room, Allan informed participants of his research and that of his colleagues on bird migration and links to energy and communication development in Vermont. On May 15, researcher William Keeton will give a brown bag lunch presentation on his work related to climate change impacts on forest ecosystems.
A lengthy list of topics requested by ANR ensures many more brown-bag lunches and research presentations to come.