Alexander Friend

Title: Budget Coordinator*
Unit: Climate, Fire, and Carbon Cycle Sciences
Previous Unit: Belowground Processes that Sustain Productivity & Ecosystem Function in Northern Forests
Address: Northern Research Station
201 14th Street Southwest
Washington, DC 20250

*Please note that this person is no longer an employee of the Northern Research Station.

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Education

• Ph.D., University of Washington
• M.S., North Carolina State University
• B.S., The University of the South.

Civic & Professional Affiliations

Ecological Society of America, Society of American Foresters, Soil Science Society of America

Current Research

1. I am director of the Northern Institute of Applied Carbon Science (NIACS), a partnership among the Northern Research Station, Michigan Technological University, and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI). Our mission is to
   1. enhance the effectiveness of research and technology transfer in the area of carbon management by catalyzing the discovery of research needs, developing collaborative and synergistic programmatic relationships among research entities relevant to carbon management, and contributing to national and international research and technology integration.
   2. to facilitate carbon management in northern forests by conducting essential carbon management research, and converting research information into tools for end users; and
   3. to improve the awareness of regional land managers, policymakers, and the general public about carbon management concepts and possibilities by thorough use of the communication networks of the parent organizations of the partners, identification and servicing of priority stakeholders for NIACS, effective synthesis and summarization of carbon sequestration science, and effective delivery of science results in various media.
      
2. In my personal research, I study the degree to which and the mechanisms by which forest ecosystems can absorb excess carbon and nutrients.  Absorbing excess carbon helps reduce the most important greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, thereby addressing concerns over global warming.  Absorbing excess nutrients helps ensure clean water and thriving aquatic ecosystems as well as safe municipal drinking water.
   
3. I also study the impacts of atmospheric pollutants on forests to the end that forests productivity can be sustained and improved even when there are atmospheric changes associated with human activity.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications