Sustainability Development Intern– The Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation
For this co-op work term, I had the opportunity to intern at Tzu Chi Foundation under the sustainability development department in Taiwan. The foundation is a humanitarian Non-Governmental Organization operating around the globe. Its work is guided by the “Eight Global Footprints” of Tzu Chi: charity, medicine, education, humanistic culture, bone marrow donation, environmental protection, community volunteerism, and international relief. As a sustainability development intern, my primary task was to benchmark Tzu Chi’s sustainability report against other domestic and international NGOs’ sustainability reports, ensuring that my benchmarking reflected all eight global footprints.
Through my benchmarking analysis, I provided Tzu Chi with concrete examples of how NGOs operate and present their reports, along with recommendations to support Tzu Chi’s future work. Beyond benchmarking, I travelled to Tzu Chi’s headquarters in Eastern Taiwan to learn about reporting frameworks such as the TCFD and TNFD from government professionals. Additionally, I attended events hosted by Tzu Chi related to their Eight Global Footprints.
As I am halfway through this work term, I am grateful for the opportunity to intern at Tzu Chi and deepen my understanding of sustainability practice in the nonprofit sector. It has allowed me to dive into the internal operations of a sustainability development department within an NGO, observing how it strives to relieve suffering through humanitarian work worldwide. By joining co-op, not only have I been able to pursue this passion through hands-on experience, but I have also gained clarity on the direction I want to steer toward in my future career.
Vice President of Administration– Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver
For the past few months, I have had the opportunity to be one of the executives of the largest student union in Canada, specifically helping manage the over 400 student groups on campus, building operations of an over 250,000 square foot student union building, and most importantly to my studies, have overseen AMS Sustainability, guiding the sustainability priorities of a $40 million dollar organization.
This experience has given me very valuable experience not only in management but policy crafting and stakeholder interaction which are going to be incredibly useful in pursuing a career in environmental policy.
During my work term at Mercer Mass Timber as a Project Engineer, I worked on a variety of day-to-day tasks that helped keep mass timber projects moving forward. The projects I worked on involved CLT and glulam, which gave me the opportunity to apply my knowledge of these materials in real construction projects. My responsibilities included preparing RFIs, processing submittals and purchase orders, reviewing construction drawings, and identifying the materials and hardware needed for different parts of each project. I also helped coordinate communication between project managers, suppliers, fabricators, and other stakeholders to make sure everyone had the information they needed.
Throughout this work term, I developed a better understanding of project coordination and construction documentation while improving my ability to read technical drawings, solve problems, and communicate effectively with different teams. Overall, this experience gave me valuable insight into how mass timber projects are managed from design through installation.
For my second work term, I have been completing an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) term in the Hamelin Lab, where I am leading an independent research project investigating the detection and distribution of Phytophthora species across the UBC Vancouver region, including the UBC Botanical Garden, UBC Farm, and Pacific Spirit Regional Park. My work combines field sampling with laboratory and molecular techniques to detect and identify Phytophthora species. I am also working with the Forest Insect Disturbance Ecology Lab (Carroll Lab) to coordinate data collection for my upcoming Honours thesis, which will examine ambrosia beetle attacks in the UBC Botanical Garden and their possible associations with environmental factors such as the presence of Phytophthora. In addition, I support graduate student research by joining field collection trips.
Through these experiences, I have learned how to plan and manage an independent research project, apply a variety of field and laboratory techniques, and work effectively with others by seeking feedback and collaborating to solve problems. This work term has given me valuable insight into academic research and has helped me better understand the career paths I may want to pursue in the future. Moreover, it has been really enjoyable to get to know the other members of the labs and my supervisors.
To me, co-op is an opportunity to gain meaningful, hands-on experience while exploring different career options and building a professional network, and I would encourage other students to participate because it provides practical skills, professional growth, and experiences that are difficult to gain in the classroom alone.
I’ve been working at ES Cropconsult as an integrated pest management field technician. I monitor blueberry, blackberry and raspberry fields across the Fraser Valley.
I have learned about the life stages of berry plants and gained skills in pest identification. Co-op means putting our knowledge into practice and connecting with local industries.
Congratulations to Dr. Tal Shalev for receiving the Best Oral Presentation by a Postdoc or Early-Career Researcher award from the North American Forest Genetics Society (NAFGS) at their biennial conference in June 2026.
About Tal Shalev
Tal Shalev is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the UBC Bohlmann Lab, where his research focuses on the population genetics, quantitative genetics, and genomics of forest trees. His work spans climate-informed seed transfer, tree improvement, and advanced statistical and genomic analyses for forestry and agricultural applications. As lead author of groundbreaking research on the western redcedar genome, Tal helped uncover new insights into the genetics, adaptation, and resilience of this iconic Pacific Northwest species, supporting future conservation, tree breeding, and climate adaptation efforts.
About the Award
The NAFGS Best Oral Presentation by a Postdoc or Early-Career Researcher Award is a biannual honor presented at the North American Forest Genetics Society (NAFGS) conference. It recognizes outstanding scientific communication and the quality of research shared by researchers within 5 years post-PhD.
Winners are evaluated by a judging panel based on the clarity, scientific rigor, and impact of their research into forest tree genomics, conservation, or tree breeding.
Research Assistant– University of British Columbia
I have been working on a variety of wood product testing and research projects during my co-op term, with a focus on evaluating the mechanical performance of lumber and glulam. My responsibilities have included preparing test specimens, conducting laboratory testing, analyzing experimental data, and interpreting results using industry standards such as CSA O122. Through this experience, I have developed stronger technical skills in data analysis and laboratory procedures while gaining a much deeper understanding of wood properties and structural performance. More importantly, I have learned that research often requires patience, attention to detail, and the willingness to learn from mistakes.
Co-op has allowed me to connect what I learned in the classroom with real engineering applications and has helped me become more confident in solving practical problems. I would encourage other students to join the co-op program because it provides valuable hands-on experience, helps build professional skills, and offers a clearer understanding of potential career paths.
An innovative field school program run by UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Assoc. Profs. David Bunn and Melissa McHale is attracting students interested in conservation in the global south. The Communities, Wildlife and Conservation in Post-Apartheid South Africa program — now in its third year — is mapping the shifting social and ecological landscape of Kruger National Park, a two-million-hectare public-entry game park located in South Africa’s north-eastern savanna and one of the world’s largest national parks.
A core part of the program and a focus of the student field experience is data collection for a long-term NASA Ecological Forecasting project, headed by David and Dr. Jody Vogeler at Colorado State University. Launched in 2021, the Ecological Forecasting project is combining NASA and other earth observation data from satellite imagery with field work to establish a robust data set for precision ecological forecasts with applications in park management and conservation efforts.
“We are working to develop an innovative conservation framework for South African protected area managers,” shares David. “Our approach focuses on producing spatio-temporal tools that will aid in understanding current and future landscape changes, habitat suitability and species dispersal together with considerations related to nearby urbanization.”
The savanna is a unique mix of open, scattered trees and a tall grass understory that thrives in hot, mostly dry climatic conditions. Local South Africans have traditionally initiated fire on the savanna to clear away thorny shrubs. Lightening and human-ignited fires, as well as movement and feeding by elephants, also open up areas where new grazing biomass can emerge, feeding a complex system of insects, birds, herbivores and predators.
Under earlier Apartheid conservation management systems, fencing around the Kruger National Park was used to limit contact between wild animals and cattle, and to exclude rural populations. Wildfire was also suppressed, resulting in thorny shrub overgrowth. However, from about 1993 onwards, fences between Kruger National Park and private reserves to the west of the park were gradually dropped, reintroducing elephant migration routes through the area and giving researchers an opportunity to assess the impacts of this infrastructure removal on the local ecology.
“The Greater Kruger National Park area, which includes protected land to the west of the park, has a mosaic of management regimens led by different communities,” David explains. “Working within these complex interrelationships, the big question that NASA and our team is interested in answering is: how do you manage equitably and for biodiversity across so many disparate forms of management?”
With 30 and 18 years of experience working in the park, respectively, both David and Melissa have longstanding and ongoing collaborations with local community members that have deepened collaboration and trust with park managers.
“Building relationships and trust are a big part of this work,” says Melissa. “We cannot preserve biodiversity without first addressing the needs of the local population.”
The knowledge to support savanna biome biodiversity
A healthy savanna ecosystem exhibits a patchwork of native plants that support animals, such as grazing antelopes, and carnivores like lions, wild dogs and cheetahs. Some management approaches have raised concerns about a loss of heterogeneity on the landscape. Downstream consequences of this range from woody vegetation encroachment to reduced grazing for herds and stressed carnivores in increasing competition with human settlements.
Camera traps are an on-the-ground data collection technology leveraged by David and Melissa to keep track of species numbers, distribution and movement patterns. These carefully placed field cameras are equipped with motion sensors. When a cheetah, antelope, hippo, wildebeest, zebra or any of the hundreds of other creatures traveling through the park pass by the sensor, the camera snaps a picture.
“A key component of what we do is ground truth the data from NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) satellite,” shares David.
GEDI is a LiDAR-based instrument that transmits laser pulses at the earth, modeling vegetation cover to a very fine resolution. However, like most satellites, GEDI struggles to differentiate between some of the complex grass-tree characteristics found on the savanna. The data collected by David and Melissa and the UBC students is contributing to the accuracy of satellite models and the development of a predictive instrument to aid conservation managers in making critical decisions related to animal habitats in Kruger National Park.
Students enrolled in the Communities, Wildlife and Conservation in Post-Apartheid South Africa program use handheld instruments from UBC Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship Trimble Technology Lab to sample and measure plants within a 25-metre-radius plot at Kruger National Park.
“This project is helping us to predict changes in species distribution, land use and land cover over the coming years.” — David Bunn
The research team’s detailed maps of vegetation structure offer insights into how it and other park features are changing such things as park hydrology and species distribution. Insights like these offer essential aids for park managers overseeing a fragile savanna ecosystem increasingly stressed by invasive species, climate change and drought.
“The imaging and field data we are gathering offers more nuanced information about what is happening on the land,” says David. “These insights are helping to remove some of the guesswork for park managers heading local conservation efforts for the benefit of the community and the environment.”
Learn more about the Communities, Wildlife and Conservation in Post-Apartheid South Africa program:
As climate change warms rivers across B.C., young salmon are facing increasing heat stress at vulnerable stages of their lives.
Researchers from UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship’s Pacific Salmon Ecology and Conservation Lab found that younger fish cope with heat differently than older fish, and that current methods may be underestimating the risks salmon face in warming waterways.
We examined how young salmon respond to warming water and whether current methods accurately measure heat tolerance. Most studies assess fish at rest, but juvenile salmon are constantly moving to find food and avoid predators, so we need to mimic real-world conditions. We also considered how age and prior temperature exposures influence responses.
Collaborating with researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the National Institute of Aquatic Resources in Denmark, we studied juvenile Chinook salmon from the Nicola River in B.C. We compared two life stages: fry, about two months old, and parr, around six months old. One study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, explored the biological mechanisms that influence heat tolerance, while a second study, published in Conservation Physiology, examined swimming performance and survival at different temperatures.
Researchers conducted a trial with fish swimming. Credit: Natalie Butler.
What did you find?
When monitored while swimming, fish were less able to physiologically cope with warm temperatures like they could in stationary trials, suggesting that traditional tests may overestimate their heat tolerance in natural conditions.
We identified 20°C as an important threshold. Fish acclimated to this temperature or warmer performed better up to that point, but beyond it their ability to cope declined.
Surprisingly, fry handled warmer temperatures better than parr, tolerating about 1.8°C higher on average. We think older fish may struggle to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to their muscles as temperatures rise.
Fish that were acclimated to cooler temperatures like 12 to 15°C, but swam vigorously at 24°C died shortly after the trials, suggesting an inability to recover from a single rapid heat event. A juvenile salmon living in a cool river that encounters really warm temperatures may not survive such a rapid temperature change.
Dr. Hinch’s lab set up with different thermal acclimation troughs. Credit: Natalie Butler.
What do these findings mean for salmon conservation?
Heat stress affects salmon differently at different life stages, so conservation and management strategies need to consider the full freshwater life cycle and habitats. Some populations do show resilience despite continued warming, but supporting that resilience means reducing thermal stressors, especially during the warmest periods. This may include maintaining and protecting riparian trees and groundwater sources to help keep waterways cool.
What does 2026 look like for B.C. salmon in fresh and salt water?
Forecasting salmon returns is complex. When juveniles migrated to the ocean two years ago, they encountered cool, food-rich coastal waters linked to La Niña conditions, so returns this year of some populations may be similar to last year.
However, current El Niño conditions could pose challenges particularly for returning adult salmon, which may encounter migration and spawning rivers that could be very warm and low due to drought.
For young salmon that will remain in freshwater for another year or two before heading to the ocean, the situation is more concerning. A “super” El Niño is projected to bring warm coastal waters, poor food availability and abundant predators, and a large blob of warm ocean water is also approaching our coast, reflecting cumulative climate change impacts.
The 2025 Fraser River sockeye run exceeded expectations, but a single year does not signal recovery. This year, we should expect continued variability with some runs near average, with others below historical norms.
For more on salmon conservation, watch Dr. Scott Hinch’s webinar on science-based solutions for ‘barriers’ to salmon recovery here.
