Green Keeper at University Golf Club in Vancouver, BC
This summer I worked as a greenkeeper in the maintenance department of the University Golf Club. My duties focused on mowing different lawn areas, raking bunkers, gardening, divot repair, irrigation repair, and so on. I learned to operate mowing machines and tools to keep the green space neat and up to golf course standards and learned to use gardening tools to support the gardens around the course beautifully manicured. During the three months of work, I gained an in-depth understanding of the management standards for scientific maintenance of golf courses and experienced the physical and mental pleasure that green spaces bring to people.
Tree Planter at J.D. Irving Ltd. in Edmundston, NB
For my first co-op term, I worked as a Tree Planter in northern New Brunswick. Having grown up in Vancouver, being tossed into the woods forty-five minutes away from the nearest town was a bit of a shock—but a little venture into my new backyard had me falling in love. The air was fresh and sweet, lichen blanketed the trees, and the last of May’s snow was imprinted with moose and deer tracks. And not to mention the photos I got!
The beginning of planting was especially rough. The sun was scorching and the flies were hungry, and so much of my body ached. But it taught me to persevere and I came out stronger both mentally and physically, which I’ve carried with me back home.
After the season’s end, I got to shadow a wildlife biologist and a forest operator for a couple of days. I got real-life tours of genetic trial plantations, rare plants, and silvicultural planning on top of great conversation and story-telling. Co-op is a great way to pull your nose out of a book and spark passion in an actual forest, with actual trees, before they’re turned into your hefty BIOL 112 textbook; so, when you do go back to studying, you have a newfound appreciation for your education.
Junior Forestry Technician at Atlas Information Management in Balfour, BC
Processed with Rookie Cam
This summer I was in Kootenay Area, have been working as a Junior Forestry Technician for Atlas Information Management. This is my first co-op work term. I am glad that I have this opportunity to get a real insight into the forestry industry.
I was focused on pre-harvest development which provides business for our client BC Timber Sales. The work includes but is not limited to field data collection and uploading, riparian assessments, old growth verification, using GPS equipment to traverse, and so on. This field information is supporting the planning, design, and management of natural resources.
In my opinion, this is a great method to introduce students to the field. Applying academic knowledge to real-world situations is usually beneficial. It also gives students who haven’t spent much time outdoors a chance to decide early on if forestry is the right field for them.
Urban Outreach Team Member at Parks Canada in Vancouver, BC
I have been working for the Parks Canada Agency this summer as a Public Outreach and Education Team member, focused on educating members on the public on different topics such as species at risk, wildlife safety, and connectivity with nature. I have gained many skills throughout this position such as dialogic interpretation, leadership and organization. I have also developed my strengths in problem solving, communication and teamwork during this position because of the nature of working in a small team and talking to members of the public. Co-op has allowed me to expand my professionalism and networking and having the experience provided throughout the work terms will help me with career path later down the line.
Dean Rob Kozak, Dr. Feng Jiang, and Dr. Taraneh Sowlati
UBC Forestry wishes to congratulate Dr. Feng Jiang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Wood Science, for winning the Faculty’s Research Award.
Feng’s Research
Dr. Feng Jiang’s research focuses on valorizing undervalued forest biomass and promoting bioeconomy. By using advanced chemistry and nanotechnology, his research has advanced the renewable and sustainable materials development by creating a broad portfolio of bio-based products including textile fibres, packaging films, hydrogel, and foam, showing broad application potentials for sustainable packaging, insulation, health monitoring, and structural components. Feng’s high impact and innovative research on using cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) to enhance the overall mechanical and conductive properties of ionic conductive hydrogels has opened a new area for the use of CNFs in emerging health monitoring field, and it has been cited over 300 times since 2020.
His recent research on sustainable packaging materials development has received broad public attentions and has been covered by over 300 different media, including CBC, CTV, Global News, The Canadian Press, BNN Bloomberg, Globe and Mail, the Weather Network, and Vancouver Sun. His research also strongly supports the bioeconomy of First Nation community, and he has established collaboration with Wet’suwet’en First nation to develop sustainable foam products for packaging and thermal insulation using their post-harvest forest residues.
About the Faculty of Forestry Research Award
This award recognizes the outstanding research accomplishments of a faculty member (Assistant or Associate) early in their career, based on the quality, quantity, and impact of their research in the previous two years. Each department head, in consultation with faculty members, selects one nominee, and from those nominees, a committee, that includes a senior faculty member from each department, selects an award winner. The committee was lucky to have three excellent nominees to select from, reflecting excellence, depth, and breadth of research in the Faculty of Forestry.
Marine Education Ambassador at Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Centre in Gibsons, BC
For my first Co-op work term, I have been working at an aquarium called the Nicholas Sonntag Marine Education Center on the Sunshine Coast. As a Marine Education Ambassador, my tasks varied widely, from caring for animals such as octopus, crabs, sea stars, anemones and rockfish to cleaning up marine debris from our waters. Every day’s tasks were vastly different from each other. Over this work term, I have gained a lot of practical knowledge about the identification of marine species, how to properly care for and feed aquatic animals, the proper protocols in the collect and release of animals and how to engage the public of all ages in meaningful ways about endangered species in our waters. This placement has provided me with so much hands-on experience and I am so grateful that I have gotten to participate in the celebration of our marine life here in the Pacific Northwest. This job has shown me the intriguing behaviors of animals and the biodiversity teeming underneath our waters; I will never look at the ocean the same way again!
Park Worker at Metro Vancouver/Parks in Langley, BC
In my first work term I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to be working for Metro Vancouver in Derby Reach Regional Park as a park worker. As a park worker we maintain the cleanliness and safety of the park and it’s trails while operating various pieces of equipment, repairing buildings and structures as well as aiming to incorporate the public into one of Metro Vancouver’s most popular nature parks. By having a presence in the park we are able to interact with the public and educate individuals on Metro Vancouver bylaws and aspects of the park such as the Fraser river which it is situated next to! A typical shift varies greatly in this work environment and can include landscaping and maintaining grass, trees, shrubs, etc., invasive species removal, aiding injured wildlife, ensuring park users are following bylaws and preserving the park and its features through educating. This position has allowed me to grow in many ways and develop my strengths of work ethic, independence in completing tasks, working in a well functioning team and communication skills with both coworkers and the public. Further, through working in parks it opens possible future paths for myself as well as allowing me to incorporate aspects of what I have learned in my degree into the real world. I would certainly recommend this position to anyone that enjoys being outdoors everyday while gaining good experience working in their area of study.
Business Strategy Intern at C-Change Labs Inc. in Vancouver, BC
For my second co-op term, I was honoured to be a Mitacs business strategy intern at C-Change-Labs Inc. My primary responsibility is to upload new Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs) through the EC3 web tool, find and fix incorrect EPD data, identify digitization rules, and analyze the life cycle results. Through this research experience, I better understood how life cycle assessment is used to evaluate a product’s environmental impacts by browsing hundreds of EPDs.
Moreover, I found that my data analysis skills and academic writing abilities had improved significantly during this period.
Co-op Student Manufacturing at Western Forest Products in Port Alberni, BC
This is my second term with Western. I stayed at APD for four more months, met with interesting people and stay busy almost every day. Strongly recommend joining the Co-op program if you consider working in the wood industry in western Canada.
