Lab Vision
Rollinson Forest Ecology Research Group
Note: Due to the institutional role and responsibility of the Forest Ecology research group at The Morton Arboretum, I usually work hard to avoid calling this group “the Rollinson lab” or something similar. I am one in a long line of Forest Ecologists at The Morton Arboretum, each of which has had different priorities and visions. In this document, I lay out priorities for the Forest Ecology group at The Morton Arboretum under my leadership.
These goals will provide guidance to myself and my group members for how we can best work together to achieve these goals. How this vision is enacted will change through time given changes in our institution and the individual people who make up the lab come, grow, and go. I will strive to provide clear and consistent direction in our actions that move The Morton Arboretum, the field of ecology, and our growth as individuals forward.
Do impactful research that advances the conservation of trees and forests in a changing world. Research may be basic or applied in nature, but should have a clear direction of how it addresses a key knowledge gap for conservation and/or sustainable resource management.
Communicate research on trees and global challenges to audiences who can enact change. This vision includes a diverse vision of audiences including policy and management professionals, education and academia, and non-professional audiences.
When multiple demands compete for time, we will prioritize audiences most likely to enact change through direct application (e.g. management & policy groups) or grassroots efforts (e.g. community groups and engaged public). Academia often has greater access to research than these other groups, and thus institutions focused on under-resourced communities will be given priority over others.
Catalyze development of new scientists by providing research opportunities that include development of research skills and comfort with the non-technical side of doing scientific research. By carefully choosing the word catalyze, I commit to accelerating change, and increasing diversity of underrepresented groups, including but not limited to racial, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds, in the field of ecology.
Students and interns will be recruited not as low-cost labor, but as an investment in the development of the discipline, and students will not be accepted or recruited if there are insufficient resources, including mental/emotional energy, to fully support those individuals.
Students and interns will perform collaborative and semi-independent research projects that advance the research mission of the Forest Ecology group, but will also be fully immersed and expected to participate in the group and institutional research culture. This is a conscious commitment to help expose and expand cultural norms that often create invisible barriers to belonging for currently underrepresented groups.