Dan Kashian receives Career Development Chairs Award

Associate Professor Dan Kashian has received a 2014 Career Development Chairs Award. Career Development Chairs are awarded to as many as seven recently tenured faculty as part of the university's program to support the teaching and research endeavors of faculty members in the developmental stages of their scholarly careers. Since 1982, 217 university faculty members have held Career Development Chairs. The Career Development Chairs were established by generous grants to the Wayne State Fund and provide recipients financial support, encouragement and recognition at a critical time in their careers.

Dr. Kashian received his award at the WSU Academic Recognition Ceremony on April 24, 2014. According to the program,

Professor Dan Kashian has done outstanding work in the field of forest ecology. The major focus of his studies is how the forest structure changes over a period of time in response to disturbances such as fire and insects. His Department of Energy-funded research has resulted in 10 high-impact research publications in eminent journals. Recently, he was asked to participate in preparing the fifth edition of the textbook Forest Ecology, to be published by John Wiley and Sons. The Career Development Chair Award will allow Kashian to investigate the effect of controlled fires on non-forested wetlands in Michigan. He is addressing an important question of whether these controlled burns will allow the natural ecology of these wetlands to remerge. In his time at Wayne State University, Kashian has proven to be not only an excellent researcher, but also an outstanding mentor. He has trained four Ph.D. candidates, three master's students and more than 12 undergraduate students have conducted directed study research under his supervision. This award will allow Kashian to expand his expertise in fire ecology and move into the top tier of researchers in the field.

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