Episodes
Episode 1: Dr. John Paul McTague
May 12, 2023
Dr. John Paul McTague is a consulting biometrician who has led a fascinating career spanning tenure in academia, leading research in industry and now forest consulting. Dr. McTague provides insight into his life growing up in the USA and Brazil, entering into a career of forestry, and a history of service to the profession.
Episode 2: Dr. Mike Strub
June 09, 2023
Dr. Mike Strub, Virginia Tech grad and retired Weyerhaeuser biometrician spills the secrets to a successful and happy career in forestry.
Episode 3: Dr. Tom Lynch
September 14, 2023
Dr. Tom Lynch is a retired professor of Forest Biometrics at Oklahoma State University. We discuss his time at school in Virginia Tech and Purdue, his lengthy career at Oklahoma State, and some of his recent publications in plantation row sampling and big BAF sampling.
Episode 4: Dr. Sheng-I Yang
September 08, 2023
Dr. Sheng-I Yang is an Associate Professor of Forest Biometrics at the University of Tennessee and the host of the 2023 joint SOMENS and NEMO conference.
Episode 5: Dr. Steve Knowe
October 06, 2023
Steve Knowe is consulting forest biometrician who has successfully ran his own consulting firm, Steve Knowe Biostatistics Consulting LLC, for more than a decade. Check him out at SteveKnowe.com and LinkedIn.
Episode 6: Dr. Laura Ramirez
December 10, 2023
Dr. Laura Ramirez is a forest biometrician with Weyerhaeuser and graduate of the University of Georgia and the National University of Colombia.
Episode 7: Dr. Trevor Walker
January 04, 2024
Dr. Trevor Walker is an assistant professor of Forest Genetics at NC State University and Co-Director of the Tree Improvement Program at NC State. Dr. Walker grew up in the Piney Woods of East Texas where he obtained a MS in forest biometrics from Stephen F. Austin State University before eventually making his way to NC State for a Ph.D. in Forest Genetics.
Episode 8: Dr. Quang Cao
March 23, 2024
Dr. Quang Cao is a Professor of Forestry at Louisiana State University. After immigrating to the US from Vietnam, he studied Forest biometrics at Virginia Tech before landing his role at LSU. We discussed his time in graduate school, including some shared experiences, and some of his major works including Stand Table/Tree List/Diameter Distribution projection.
Episode 9: Ronald Taylor
April 10, 2024
Ronald Taylor is a biometrician with a background in Remote Sensing/GIS, Statistical Modeling, and Optimization with career experience spanning Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia. Currently, he is an instructor at the Centre of Geographic Science (COGS) in Nova Scotia, Canada and is promoting a new graduate certificate program in Forest Geomatics and Biometrics technology at the Centre of Forest Innovation. Be sure to check out the program at www.nscc.ca.
Episode 10: Dr. Brian Roth
May 28, 2024
Dr. Brian Roth is an international forestry consultant and founder of Forest Release, a non-profit humanitarian organization with a focus on promoting safety and sustainability in former conflict areas. Currently working in the Ukraine, Forest Release is collecting donations for fire-safety and fire-suppression gear and providing safety training for Ukrainian foresters. For those wishing to help, donations can be made through ForestRelease.org or by contacting Dr. Roth directly at Brian@rothforestry.com.
Episode 11: Dr. Mostarin Ara
June 07, 2024
Dr. Mostarin Ara is a Forest Silviculturist and all around adventurer. Having worked and studied all over the world, Dr. Ara is well versed in a wide range of ecosystems and silvicultural regimes. We discussed her time at university in Bangladesh, Grad school in Sweden and the Netherlands, post-doc in Canada, and finally her current position in New Zealand.
Episode 12: Greg Johnson
June 21, 2024
Greg Johnson retired from Weyerhaeuser as the Director of Advanced Forestry Systems and currently runs his own consulting business, Greg Johnson Biometrics LLC. A native of the east coast, Greg graduated with degrees from Oregon State University. While his accolades are numerous, Greg built one of the largest forest systems teams in the world and is one of the most influential people in the forest Biometrics community. In this episode, Greg shares his ‘origin story’ and his forecast on the future of forest inventory and modeling.
Episode 13: Dr. Aaron Weiskittel
September 11, 2024
Dr. Aaron Weiskittel is the Irving chair of Forest Ecosystem Management and professor of forest biometrics and modeling at the University of Maine, Director of the Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS) and for the Center for Research on Sustainable Forests, and Co-Executive Director of the Northeastern States Research Cooperative. Dr. Weiskittel is also the host of the Joint NEMO/SOMENS 2024 annual meeting being held in Stowe, VT. In this episode we discuss the importance of networking, Carbon Markets, and the future of Growth and Yield Cooperatives.
Episode 14: Dr. Dave Hyink
March 20, 2025
Dr. Dave Hyink is a retired forest biometrician, Eagle Scout, and professional grandpa. In this episode, Dr. Hyink recounts the tale of his unexpected beginnings in forestry and path to becoming one of the greatest biometricians of a generation. We discuss some of his important contributions to forest modeling, such as the parameter recover approach to diameter distribution estimation, and some of the most surprising things he saw over his career (with slides).
Episode 15: Dr. Kim Iles
April 26, 2025
Dr. Kim Iles is a Forest Biometrics consultant, author, historian, professor, and all around sampling enthusiast. He received degrees in Forest Management and Forest Biometrics from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. in Forest Biometrics from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Iles is also a fellow collector of people and stories which he documented in his book “Celebrating some people and lessons, from a time in Forest Inventory” which can be accessed online at http://www.sitca.ca/documents/Kim_Iles_People_Book.pdf
Episode 16: Dr. Dean Coble
June 04, 2025
Dr. Dean Coble is a Portfolio Analyst/Biometrician for BTG Pactual. Prior to his role at BTG, Dr. Coble was a professor of Forest Biometrics at West Virginia University and Stephen F. Austin State University. Additionally, Dr. Coble served as a research analyst in Alzheimer’s research at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri.
Episode 17: Dr. Phil West
August 13, 2025
Dr. Phil West is a retired forest biometrician from South Australia. One of Australia’s most experienced forest growth and yield modelers, Dr. West has worked across a wide range of forest types, from plantations to tropical forests, and has authored numerous publications as well as two forestry textbooks. Having worked as a researcher, a professor, and a consultant, Dr. West has an extensive career in the development and use of forest growth and yield models. He now spends his time in retirement researching those topics which he finds both interesting and challenging.
Episode 18: Dr. Hector Restrepo
December 05, 2025
In this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Hector Restrepo, Forest Biometrician at NCASI, whose career blends technical expertise, global perspective, and a deep commitment to innovation.
Episode 19: Clara Clark
March 06, 2026
Clara Clark is a Senior Biometrician at American Forest Management, and graduate of Virginia Tech. Clara shares her real-world experience in growth and yield modeling, and client-facing strategies for translating complex quantitative results into actionable forest management advice. Further, Clara delves into her origin story, from transitioning her educational focus from a career in teaching to eventually forest biometrics, to her current position as a biometrician at AFM, one of the largest consulting companies in North America.
All episodes are also available on our YouTube channel and Spotify.