Southern Research Station Headquarters - Asheville, NC

Biography of Dr. Peter J. Roussopoulos

Dr. Peter J. Roussopoulos became the Director of the Southern Research Station in January, 1995.

He was born August 12, 1947 in St. Paul, Minnesota and was raised in rural Wisconsin and in suburban Twin Cities, MN. He received his Bachelor of Science in Forestry in 1969 from the University of Minnesota, followed by an MS in Forestry in 1971. He earned his PhD in Forest Ecology at Michigan State University in 1978. Dr. Roussopoulos has been in forestry research with USDA Forest Service for more than 35 years.

During his early career, Dr. Roussopoulos conducted research on forest fire behavior and prescribed fire use in the Lake States. He did ecological research on natural and human-caused processes governing forest flammability and prescribed fire use in the northeastern U.S. In Colorado, he led a national program of research to develop analytical systems for forest fire management planning and decision making. In Washington, D.C. he coordinated the Agency's nationwide program of forest fire research and served two years as the national budget coordinator for Forest Service Research.

Dr. Roussopoulos was named Director of the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station in 1992, and when the Southeastern Station was consolidated with the Southern Forest Experiment Station, he became Director of the Southern Research Station. Dr. Roussopoulos manages forestry research at 19 locations across 13 Southern States -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia -- with projects that concentrate on global change, forest inventory and forest health monitoring, fisheries, wildlife and endangered species, forested wetlands, human values, silviculture and ecosystem responses, and watershed management. One of Dr. Roussopoulos' accomplishments has been the redesign and acceleration of the Southern Forest Inventory as part of a new Science Strategy for the Southern Research Station which addresses sustainable forestry needs in the South and beyond.

In 2000, Dr. Roussopoulos was recognized as 1 of 2 Senior Executives in the Forest Service to receive the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive.

Education:

PhD - Forest Ecology, Michigan State University, December 1978
MS - Forestry, University of Minnesota, March 1971
BS - Forestry, University of Minnesota, June 1969

Career Summary:

1995-Present -- Director, USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station - Asheville, North Carolina
1992-1994 -- Station Director, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station - Asheville, North Carolina
1989-1992 -- Assistant Director Research North. North Central Forest Experiment Station - St. Paul, Minnesota
1988-1989 -- Staff Assistant to Deputy Chief for Research -- Washington, DC
1985-1988 -- Staff Research Forester -- Washington, DC
1984-1985 -- Supervisory Research Forester, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station -- Flagstaff, Arizona
1979-1984 -- Research Project Leader, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station -- Fort Collins, Colorado
1977-1979 -- Research Forester, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station-- Fort Collins, Colorado
1971-1977 -- Research Forester, North Central Forest Experiment Station -- East Lansing, Michigan
1967-1971 -- Forestry Aid/Forester, North Central Forest Experiment Station -- St. Paul, Minnesota

Professional Affiliations:

Society of American Foresters; Sigma XI - The Scientific Research Society

Address:

USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station
200 W.T. Weaver Blvd.
PO Box 2680
Asheville, NC 28802

Phone:    (828) 257-4300


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