Staff
The Director of CBES is Virginia Dale, a leading landscape ecologist. Her research interests include ecological modeling, forest dynamics, forest responses to climate change and catastrophic disruptions, decision analysis, and science-based support for environmental decision making. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Management. As Director of the Center, she defines its scientific direction, marshals the forces of researchers from disparate disciplines to address the sustainability of biofuel production, guides the development of the tools and resources needed to research sustainability issues, and presents the knowledge gained from that research to the science and policy communities.
The Communications Specialist is Fred O'Hara, a technical writer and editor, who for many decades has served national and international government agencies dealing with energy and the environment. He serves on the staffs of six federal advisory committees. He helps compile, interpret, and express the research findings of the Center's associates.
The Strategic Specialist is Becky Rumbaugh Bowman whose background includes serving as a technical advisor in monitoring and evaluation, democracy and governance, and education for in international development projects. Her strategic and information management skills are brought to bear in working with the Director to organize and manage CBES' Forums, Workshops and Website.
The Administrative Assistant is Lindsey Amason, who was previously the Administrative Assistant to the President of Liberty University. For the Center, she establishes and tracks the finance, computer, and security accounts; arranges travel; and clears publications.
ORNL ecologists, social scientists, and geographers document and explore the processes responsible for land-use change and implications of those changes. Using high-performance computing, geospatial analysis, and advanced visualization, ORNL scientists deal with computational, data, and geographic concerns underlying sustainability for bioenergy.
