Heather Root performs post-doctoral research at Oregon State University in the department of forest ecosystems and society. She also works for the USDA Forest Service as a botanist in the Air Quality Resource Management Program. Her post-doctoral work at OSU currently focuses on how forest management affects forest biodiversity. Prior to her current position at Oregon Sate University, Heather worked as a botanist for the Bureau of Land Management in California.

For NARA, Heather works with Matt Betts using literature review, field data collection and modeling to investigate how forest biomass harvesting affects biodiversity.

Heather completed her doctorate in botany and a master’s degree in statistics at Oregon State University. She completed an additional master’s degree in environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in plant science and biology at Cornell University.