People

Tom O'Halloran, Group Leader

Dr. O'Halloran is an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University and works at Clemson's Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science near Georgetown in coastal South Carolina.  He is an expert in biometeorology, and studies the effects of land management and ecosystem disturbances on carbon, water and greenhouse exchange between Earth's surface and the atmosphere.  This research improves understanding of how humans influence climate and informs international efforts to design better carbon sequestration projects and natural climate solutions, including the emerging field of 'Climate Smart Forestry'.  He has B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia and postdoctoral training from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and the Department of Forest Ecosystems & Society at Oregon State University.  Contact information is located on the departmental website.

Email: tohallo@clemson.edu 

Jeremy Forsythe, Ph.D. student

Jeremy Forsythe is a Ph.D. candidate at the interface of ecology and climate science who is broadly interested in using quantitative methods and cutting-edge technology to study greenhouse gas cycling and the variability of ecosystem function across space and time. He is currently using eddy covariance and satellite remote sensing to investigate the drivers and constraints on Southern pine forest productivity, including diffuse radiation enhancement, phenology, timber management, and succession. Additionally, he is developing a novel implementation of light use efficiency models in an ecological forecasting framework to make near real-time predictions of future forest carbon sequestration. In his spare time he enjoys alternative music, creative cooking, running, and learning new programming skills.

Email: jdforsy@g.clemson.edu 

Lucas Clay, Ph.D. student

Lucas Clay is Ph.D. candidate studying how greenhouse gas exchange varies between different types of coastal wetlands, including impounded wetlands and natural salt marshes using eddy covariance flux towers. He is also studying the quantification of ecosystem services in these wetlands and the implications of these valuation methods for carbon markets and conservation of coastal wetlands in light of climate change and sea level rise. He primarily works at the Baruch Institute of Coast Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, SC.

Lucas has studied carbon offset markets and collaborated on ecosystem services valuation and conservation projects in South Carolina, helping landowners understand the carbon market and determine high value locations for conservation and carbon sequestration. Lucas holds an M.S. degree in Forest Resources from Clemson University and a B.S. degree in Environmental Management from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. He also enjoys backpacking, running, and playing music.

Email: clay9@g.clemson.edu 

Annika Kuleba, M.S. student

Annika Kuleba is a M.S. student studying soil carbon accumulation and greenhouse gas emissions in  Conservation Reserve Program Wetlands in the Midwest. Her research is part of the Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation Projects identified by the Farm Service Agency which works to quantify Conservation Reserve Program environmental benefits on water quality and quantity, wildlife, rural economies, and our climate. She hopes to inform landowners or other stakeholders about the importance of sustainable management practices and restoration efforts. Annika holds a B.S. in Environmental Science, B.A. in Economics, and Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Certificate from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. In her spare time, she enjoys golfing, beekeeping, cooking, and a variety of outdoor activities.

Email: akuleba@g.clemson.edu 

Michael Kline, Climate Smart Tower Manager

Michael Kline has been studying wetlands as a field technician for over 10 years.  He has a B.S. from Towson University and a M.S. from the University of Colorado.  He has worked for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Southeast Environmental Research Center in Miami, FL, and Audubon’s Everglades Science Center in Tavernier, FL.

Email: mkline@clemson.edu 

Haoyu Li, Environmental Sensor Manager

Haoyu joined our group in March 2024 as a tower technician focusing on mostly Hobcaw Eddy Flux Towers as well as assisting climate smart towers installation and other related environmental surveys and samplings. He moved from China to the US in 2016 to pursue a master degree at the University of Central Florida. Upon graduation in 2019 he started working at the Archbold Biological Station in South Florida as an Environmental Specialist managing the North Everglades Payment for Environmental Services project funded by South Florida Water Management District; the project focuses on controlling surface water and nutrient flow with local ranchers. His undergraduate experience involved mostly working in mangroves in subtropical and tropical South China. Haoyu is generally interested in incorporating field experiment and sampling, instrumental technology and long-term monitoring to facilitate a successful and sustainable approach in conservation management. During leisure time he enjoys photography and long road trips across the US west to camp in national parks.

Email: haoyul@clemson.edu 

Daniel Schermaier, Climate Smart Flux Tower Technician

Daniel joined the O’Halloran Lab in May 2023 as an eddy covariance flux tower technician working on the Climate-Smart Commodities Project. He received his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with a Minor in Bioengineering from the University of Dayton in 2022. Prior to this position, he helped develop biofabrication technologies for investigating biological processes at a microscale. Through this work, he developed a strong interest in microbiota and their role in biogeochemical cycling. As a tower technician on the Climate-Smart Project, he is eager to investigate biosphere-atmosphere exchange as a biogeochemical process, with a particular focus on greenhouse gas fluxes following various management techniques used in stand-scale forests. He hopes this project may reveal the economic and ecological benefits of applying more sustainable and resilient management strategies. Following this opportunity, Daniel aspires to use eddy covariance to further investigate biogeochemical cycling in coastal ecosystems.

Email: dscherm@clemson.edu 

Abigail Lacy, UPIC research intern, Wetland Ecology

Abigail is an undergraduate UPIC intern in the O’Halloran Lab working with M.S. student Annika Kuleba during the summer of 2024. She is assisting with ongoing field efforts in the Conservation Reserve Program project in the Midwest, as well as working to reestablish the greenhouse gas flux measurement system. She is entering her senior year at Clemson, studying biosystems engineering with an ecological engineering emphasis.

Email: aglacy@g.clemson.edu 

Logan Porter, UPIC research intern, Forest Ecology

Logan is a rising senior at Clemson University majoring in Biological Sciences. During the summer of 2024, Logan worked with the O'Halloran lab performing vegetation surveys in the longleaf forest surrounding the tall eddy flux tower. He also worked in long term plots affected by Hurricane Hugo with Dr. Bo Song investigating salt water intrusion. He will graduate in the spring of 2025. 

Email: hlp@g.clemson.edu 

Tim Ziegler, UPIC research intern, Forest Ecology

Tim is a junior undergraduate student at Clemson University majoring in Environmental Engineering. During the summer of 2024, he worked on vegetation surveys in the Longleaf and Loblolly pine forests surrounding the tall eddy flux tower. In addition, Tim worked with Bo Song on a long-term regeneration study of plots impacted by Hurricane Hugo. He will be graduating from Clemson in the spring of 2027. 

Email: tjziegl@g.clemson.edu 

Georgia Seyfried, Postdoctoral Scholar (2022-2023)

Dr. Seyfried conducted her postdoctoral work with Dr. O'Halloran and Dr. Alex Chow at the Baruch Institute where she used a novel greenhouse gas (GHG) flux measurement system to capture spatial and temporal heterogeneity of in situ gas fluxes in coastal marshes. 

Georgia is now an Assistant Professor of Belowground Forest Ecology at Oregon State University. https://directory.forestry.oregonstate.edu/people/seyfried-georgia 

Olivia Balkcum, UPIC Research Intern (2021)

Olivia is an undergraduate at Clemson University majoring in Environmental and Natural Science. During the summer of 2021, Olivia worked with the O'Halloran lab performing vegetation surveys in the longleaf/loblolly pine forest around the tall eddy flux tower. She also worked with Dr. Bo Song in long term hurricane recovery plots at the marsh-forest ecotone. Olivia plans to graduate in the fall of 2021.

Margaret Wise, UPIC Research Intern (2021)

Margaret is an undergraduate student at Clemson University majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. She worked alongside Olivia during the summer of 2021 as an intern performing vegetation surveys in the longleaf/loblolly pine forest surrounding the tall eddy flux tower. She also worked on plots impacted by Hurricane Hugo at the marsh-forest ecotone as part of a long-term regeneration study conducted by Dr. Bo Song. Margaret will graduate in May of 2022.

Michelle Furbeck, M.S. student (2019-2021)

Michelle Furbeck studied salt marsh functioning using eddy flux tower measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE). By combining these measurements with water quality data, Michelle will help improve understanding of threats from future climate change on the health of coastal estuarine systems. This project is a partnership with South Carolina Sea Grant and the North-Inlet Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Prior to studying at Clemson, Michelle worked as a research assistant at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine. She holds a B.S. in Marine Science and a minor in Applied Mathematics from the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.  Michelle graduated from Clemson with an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology in May of 2021.

Franklin Hunter Morgan, UPIC Research Intern - Environmental Sensors (2019)

Hunter is an undergraduate student at Clemson University majoring in Biosystems Engineering.  During the summer of 2019 he completed a summer internship at the Baruch Institute in the O'Halloran lab installing and using senors that measure elements of forest hydrology, including precipitation, water table depth, and understory meteorological variables. Hunter plans to graduate in the spring of 2021.

Roger Bruce, UPIC Research Intern - Forestry (2019)

Roger is an undergraduate student at Clemson University majoring in Forest Resource Management.  During the summer of 2019 he completed a summer internship at the Baruch Institute in the O'Halloran lab performing a biomass survey of the understory and overstory in the longleaf/loblolly pine forest around the tall eddy flux tower.  Roger plans to graduate in the spring of 2020.

Natalie Jones, Research Intern (2018)

Natalie was an undergraduate student at Sweet Briar College and had an internship with our group in 2018, supported by a USDA NIFA  grant to study soil respiration in biofuel plantations at Sweet Briar.

Shannon Skeffington & Chelsea McKinney, Research Interns (2017)

Shannon and Chelsea were undergraduate students at Sweet Briar College who had summer research internships in 2017 supported by our USDA NIFA project to study biofuels at Sweet Briar.

Mike Aylett, Summer Research Intern (2017)

Mike worked with Dr. Bo Song and our group during the summer of 2017 as a UPIC intern working on our NSF RAPID-funded project on studying the effects of Hurricane Matthew's storm surge on coastal forests.

Maggie Wilkinson, Research Technician (2017)

Maggie joined the group in February 2017 as a dedicated research technician supporting our NSF-funded project to study the effect of Hurricane Matthew on coastal forest ecology.  Maggie is from Georgetown, South Carolina and has a B.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and a minor in Education from Clemson University. Maggie moved to a permanent staff technician position with the Institute in 2018.