Green Horizons

The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry has a new leader.

Shibu Jose, Ph.D., has become director of the Center, effective Nov. 1. Upon previous director Gene Garrett’s retirement Dec. 31, Jose assumed the endowed professorship, the H. Gene Garrett Chair of Agroforestry. Garrett will continue on at MU as superintendent of the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center and professor emeritus of forestry.

“MU is fortunate to have recruited an eminent scholar of Dr. Jose’s caliber,” said Mark Ryan, director of the MU School of Natural Resources. “He is uniquely qualified to build upon the great success of Dr. Garrett and the Center for Agroforestry.”

Jose comes to MU from the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he served as a professor of forest ecology with the School of Forest Resources and Conservation and held affiliate faculty status in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the soil and water science department.

“The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry has been a global leader in agroforestry research, teaching and technology transfer,” Jose said. “It is my great honor and privilege to serve as the Director of the Center and assume the Endowed Professorship upon Dr. Garrett’s retirement.”

Jose received his B.S. in forestry from Kerala Agricultural University, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in forest science from Purdue University.

He is the author of more than 80 refereed articles and has edited six books. His work has been presented at more than 150 regional, national and international conferences, including several invited speeches and keynote addresses.

Jose’s research program has the overarching goal of identifying and quantifying key ecological processes and interactions that define ecological sustainability. He examines how resource availability and disturbances influence ecosystem structure and function in agroforests, natural forests and plantation forests. He uses the ecological information in designing agroforestry systems and restoring degraded and damaged ecosystems. Over the past 20 years Jose and his research team have conducted studies in the U.S., Australia, Costa Rica, Belize, Bangladesh and India.

He is Editor-In-Chief of Agroforestry Systems; Associate Editor, International Journal of Ecology; and Associate Editor (former Editor), Journal of Forestry. He currently serves as a Division Deputy Coordinator of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He has served as Chair of the Cultural Diversity Committee of the National Society of American Foresters (SAF), member of the Forest Science and Technology Board of SAF, Chair of the National Agroforestry Working Group, Chair of the Applied Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), council member of ESA and board member of the Southeastern Chapter of Society for Ecological Restoration.

Jose’s awards and honors include Faculty Award of Merit by Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honor Society of Agriculture; Stephen Spurr Award by the Florida Division of the Society of American Foresters (SAF); Award of Excellence in Research by the Southeastern SAF; National Leadership Award by the National SAF; and Aga Khan International Fellowship. Most recently, he spent six months in Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar conducting teaching and research.

Contact Jose at 573-882-0240 or joses@missouri.edu. His profile is available at http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/personnel/index.asp#Jose

The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, established in 1998, is one of the world’s leading centers contributing to the science underlying agroforestry. Find the Center online at http://www.centerforagroforestry.org