Student Awarded $52K Grant to Advance Campus Forest Carbon Project
Undergraduate-led research will inform UMD’s climate action goals through carbon modeling, land-use planning and student engagement.
An undergraduate student in environmental science and policy has been awarded more than $52,000 to lead the next phase of a campus-wide initiative that tracks and models how forests absorb and store carbon. Natalie Rosenthal, whose concentration is in wildlife ecology and management, will oversee the Campus Forest Carbon Project 2.0, which builds on earlier efforts to inform land-use decisions and support climate mitigation planning at the University of Maryland.
Funded through a two-year grant from the UMD Sustainability Fund, the project will use updated remote sensing and computer modeling techniques—mirroring those used by the state—to monitor carbon fluxes across university-owned properties. Rosenthal will collaborate with the Campus Arboretum and the Office of Sustainability throughout the project.
“The Campus Forest Carbon Project 2.0 will advance the topic of forest carbon monitoring and modeling in the context of greenhouse gas emissions reporting and climate mitigation planning on the University of Maryland campus,” she said. This includes tracking tree plantings, supporting land-use planning and helping the university stay aligned with its climate action goals.
The student became involved in the effort after taking GEOG140 and then interning in the Global Ecology Lab (GEL), led by Professor and Associate Chair George Hurtt in the Department of Geographical Sciences. While there, she learned about the first Campus Forest Carbon Project, which ran from 2019 to 2021 and made UMD the first university in the country to adopt the state’s new greenhouse gas emissions reporting system for campus-level forest monitoring.
“It’s quite rare for an undergraduate to lead a project of this scope and receive this level of funding,” said Hurtt. “Natalie will lead a team of undergraduate researchers to implement state of the art science pioneered by NASA in Maryland on our campus. Her initiative and leadership reflect the caliber of work we’re proud to support in the department.”
“It’s quite rare for an undergraduate to lead a project of this scope and receive this level of funding.” Professor George Hurtt
Building on that foundation, the new project will not only update carbon assessments using current data and improved methodology, but also create a campus land-use plan to optimize forest cover and identify the potential for future carbon sequestration.
The project’s work will directly support UMD’s Climate Action Plan 3.0, the President’s Climate Commitment, and the state’s Five Million Trees Initiative. Annual reports will be shared with the Office of Sustainability, and a final report and land-use plan will be submitted to university leadership.
For Rosenthal, the opportunity to lead this work is both professionally and personally meaningful.
“Receiving this support means that this project is able to continue on with new goals which will help inform campus administration as they make choices related to sustainability,” she said. “For me, this support means that I get to continue working on this project that I see as highly valuable and informative especially as we learn more about how climate change continues to impact our planet especially our forests.”
Published on Wed, 06/18/2025 - 15:32