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 

Siddhartha Regmi, Ph.D. Student

Siddhartha Regmi is a forestry science Ph.D. student in  Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University with a strong background in forest resource management, particularly in coastal ecosystems. He has a master’s degree in Forest Resources from Clemson and a bachelor’s degree in Forestry from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. Siddhartha’s research focuses on forest disturbances, specifically the impacts of sea level rise and hurricanes on coastal forest ecosystems. Siddhartha's career goal is to be an academician in a renowned university where he can apply his expertise to develop the next generation of forest and natural resource managers while continually advancing his knowledge through research in his lab. A passionate advocate for conservation and sustainability, he actively engages in leadership roles within Clemson and the broader environmental community. He is also interested in science communication and outreach programs. Siddhartha is passionate about hiking, watching movies, cooking, interacting and networking with people, and learning new ideas and views from others. Siddhartha is co-advised by Dr. O'Halloran and Dr. Bo Song.

Email: sregmi@g.clemson.edu 

Basanta Shrestha, Ph.D. Student

Basanta Shrestha is a Ph.D. student in Forest Resources at Clemson University, focusing on climate-smart forestry and carbon sequestration. His current research involves a multi-stand manipulative forestry experiment using eddy covariance flux towers to quantify atmospheric carbon sequestration. He earned his MS in Forestry from Auburn University, where he studied carbon pool dynamics in wind-damaged, fire-managed southeastern U.S. forests. Basanta's research interests span forest carbon studies, disturbance ecology, and the development of nature-based climate solutions. He is a certified prescribed burn manager, with experience in forest fire ecology and prescribed burning. He also worked as a forest technician on forest management projects in Nepal. In his free time, he enjoys learning new skills, soccer, and hiking.

Email: basants@clemson.edu 

Annika Kuleba, Environmental Research Manager

Annika is the Environmental Research Manager and works on a Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation Project in partnership with Ducks Unlimited and the USDA Farm Service Agency .  She completed an M.S. degree on soil carbon accumulation and greenhouse gas emissions in  Conservation Reserve Program Wetlands in the Midwest. Her research quantifies the 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 

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 

Clémence Bonenfant, Climate Smart Soils Lab Technician

Clem joined the team in May 2023 as the Soil lab technician on the Climate-Smart project. She has a background in geology engineering and graduated from a French engineering school in 2018. She specializes in hydrogeology and environment and worked previously as a field engineer on soil and groundwater remediation projects. While working on the Climate-Smart project, Clem hopes she will be able to contribute to expanding our knowledge of complex climate change mechanisms. During her free time, Clem enjoys traveling and discovering new places

Email: cbonenf@clemson.edu 

Sarah Griffith, Climate Smart Soil Flux Technician

Sarah joined our team as the Soil Greenhouse Gas Field Technician on the Climate-Smart project. She has a BA in Environmental Studies with emphasis in Agroecology from Prescott College in Arizona. Her interests include nutrient cycling in agriculture and exploring how land management practices affect overall ecosystem health. Through her work on the Climate-Smart project, Sarah is excited to learn specifically how land management practices affect our climate by measuring Greenhouse Gas fluxes in a variety of agroecosystems. She hopes to see more informed land management decisions in the future as a result of this research. In her spare time she volunteers with the Loggerhead Sea Turtle program at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, tinkers in her garden, enjoys hiking, swimming and kayaking, and crafts a variety of fermented foods and beverages.

Email: sg3@clemson.edu 

Daniel Schermaier, Eddy Covariance Tower Technician

Daniel is an M.S. student and eddy covariance tower technician in the O'Halloran lab. He earned his bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Bioengineering from the University of Dayton. Broadly, he is interested in biosphere-atmosphere interactions and the complex feedbacks that drive ecosystem function, particularly biogeochemical cycling. His research investigates how biotic factors (such as vegetation, microbes, and marsh fauna) and abiotic drivers (such as temperature, water depth, and salinity) influence carbon cycling in salt marsh ecosystems. Prior to this position, he helped develop lab-based platforms to study cellular function and behavior across different environments. This work sparked a strong interest in microbiomes and microbial complexity- initially within human systems, and now in the context of natural ecosystems. His current work continues to explore these microscale interactions through ecosystem-scale measurements, with the goal of deepening our understanding of how local ecological processes shape global environmental patterns.

Email: dscherm@clemson.edu 

Logan Porter, Eddy Covariance Tower Technician

Logan is an eddy covariance tower technician. He first joined the lab as a summer intern in 2024 and accepted a full-time position in September 2025. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Clemson University in May 2025. Logan is interested in investigating the sustainability of longleaf pine forests - once the dominant ecosystem in the southeastern United States and supporting landowners in making informed forestry management decisions. In his free time, he is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys watching and playing a wide variety of sports. 

Email: hlp@clemson.edu 

Rachael Tomasko, Undergraduate Researcher (2022 - 2025)

Rachael Tomasko is an undergraduate at Kenyon College majoring in Biology and Environmental Studies. Since the summer of 2022, Rachael has been working with the Fennessy lab at Kenyon College in partnership with the O’Halloran lab studying restored wetlands on agricultural lands with the goal of measuring and modeling the potential for climate mitigation through wetland restoration under the USDA Conservation Reserve Program by studying carbon dynamics (carbon storage, sequestration, and greenhouse gas flux) in soils, gasses, and vegetation across the Central US. With her interest in the role plants play in wetland carbon cycles, she is also examining how restored wetlands are functioning floristically and how plant traits influence carbon dynamics in these restored wetlands. Rachael visited the O'Halloran Lab at the Baruch Institute in the summer of 2023.  In her free time, Rachael enjoys hiking, bird watching, and photography. 

Email: tomasko1@kenyon.edu 

Lucas Clay, Ph.D. Student (2020-2024)

Lucas Clay completed his Ph.D. research on greenhouse gas exchange dynamics in coastal wetlands, focusing on impounded wetlands and natural salt marshes using eddy covariance flux towers. His work explored ecosystem service valuation in these wetlands, with implications for carbon markets and coastal conservation amid climate change and sea level rise. He conducted much of his research at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, SC.

Lucas also studied carbon offset markets and collaborated on conservation projects in South Carolina, helping landowners identify high-value areas for conservation and carbon sequestration. He earned an M.S. in Forest Resources from Clemson University and a B.S. in Environmental Management from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, running, and playing music. He currently works as a research ecologist with the Clemson University Experimental Forest.

Email: clay9@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 

Michael Kline, Climate Smart Tower Manager (2018-2025)

Mike worked as our lead tower technician and eventually the Climate Smart Tower Manager.  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.  He currently works at Archbold Biological Station in Florida.

Abigail Lacy, UPIC Research Intern, Wetland Ecology (2024)

In 2024, Abigail worked as a UPIC intern in the O’Halloran Lab at Clemson University, assisting M.S. student Annika Kuleba. She contributed to field research for the Conservation Reserve Program project in the Midwest and helped reestablish the greenhouse gas flux measurement system. At the time, she was entering her senior year, studying biosystems engineering with an ecological engineering emphasis.

Email: aglacy@g.clemson.edu 

Tim Ziegler, UPIC Research Intern, Forest Ecology (2024)

In the summer of 2024, Tim worked on vegetation surveys in the longleaf and loblolly pine forests surrounding the tall eddy flux tower as part of the O’Halloran Lab at Clemson University. He also assisted with a long-term regeneration study of plots impacted by Hurricane Hugo, working with Dr. Bo Song. Tim is majoring in Environmental Engineering and plans to graduate from Clemson in the spring of 2027.

Email: tjziegl@g.clemson.edu 

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.