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New Center Director at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

September 9, 2019

CORVALLIS, Ore. — The U.S. Geological Survey has selected Sue Phillips as the new center director of the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. FRESC is headquartered in Corvallis, Oregon, with research offices in Corvallis; Boise, Idaho; Seattle, Washington; and Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Washington.

headshot of Sue Phillips
Sue Phillips, center director of the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. FRESC is headquartered in Corvallis, Oregon, with research offices in Corvallis; Boise, Idaho; Seattle, Washington; and Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Washington.

“I am very honored and excited to be FRESC’s center director,” said Sue Phillips. “I look forward to helping FRESC’s scientists and staff conduct and deliver critical, timely and objective science to natural resource managers, policy makers and the public.”

Phillips has been a FRESC research manager for the past 10 years, serving on the center’s management team, advising and recommending the course of future research, administration and technical support activities of the center to its director and supervising research scientists and science support staff. She has also served in multiple roles within the USGS including FRESC acting center director, senior science advisor to the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area and as the wildfire science coordinator.

Before joining FRESC, Phillips worked for 12 years with the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center’s Canyonlands Field Station in Moab, Utah, most recently serving as its station leader. She also spent seven years as a research associate at the University of Utah. Phillips completed her undergraduate work at the University of Colorado Boulder and her master’s degree at the University of Utah. She has a scientific background in plant ecology.

“Sue brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from different levels in the USGS and is uniquely qualified to lead FRESC’s future science directions,” said Marijke van Heeswijk, acting director of the USGS Northwest-Pacific Islands Region. “Sue showed great leadership in facilitating multiagency collaborations to assist the Department of the Interior with its management of Western aridlands, and especially sagebrush ecosystems, for which she was awarded the DOI Meritorious Service Award. I know she will bring that same leadership to her new role as FRESC’s center director, helping keep FRESC and the USGS at the forefront of science in service of the public.”

FRESC’s research supports the USGS Ecosystems and Environmental Health mission areas in the Western U.S. and beyond. FRESC’s goal is to provide scientific understanding, approaches and methods needed to support sound management, conservation and restoration of the nation’s natural resources, with an emphasis on ecosystems of the Western U.S. FRESC is one of eight USGS science centers within the Department of the Interior’s Region 9.

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