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Puneet Dwivedi had only been named a full professor at the University of Georgia for a month when he came across an opening at Clemson University.
The job was for the Glenn ’65 and Heather Hilliard Endowed Professor of Environmental Sustainability. As intriguing as it appeared to him, Dwivedi was hesitant to apply, knowing he was still a freshly minted professor.
“I talked to a lot of other folks, family, friends, seniors, my advisors,” Dwivedi said. “They said this is a good opportunity; you should definitely go about it. So, after careful consideration, I applied for the position. I was really excited about it.”
After becoming a full professor in July 2024 at the University of Georgia, Dwivedi began his new position as Clemson’s Glenn ’65 and Heather Hilliard Endowed Professor of Environmental Sustainability on Aug. 15.
“It is a humbling experience to get this prestigious position,” Dwivedi said. “My lab at the Clemson University Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation will be working on sustainable forestry issues in South Carolina and beyond to answer some critical questions for supporting a balance between prosperity, people and the planet. This is the exciting part about this position as it allows you to develop independent research projects in your area of expertise. This is also a great way to work with modern conservationalists like Glenn and Heather Hilliard to appreciate their vision for the state and the region overall.”
Glenn and Heather Hilliard started the endowed scholarship in 2010. Hilliard said growing up in the country and being involved in the Boy Scouts as a youngster showed him the importance of protecting the state’s forest lands, while also making them available to everyone for health, recreation and economic improvement.
“We believe that South Carolina is an absolutely spectacular and wonderful state that Heather and I love very much,” Glenn Hilliard said. “We want to do all we can do to keep it spectacular and wonderful. It’s filled with incredible natural and historic areas that certainly deserve to be identified and protected.
“I think the endowed professorship is environmentally going to help everything come together in a meaningful way and add value to a lot of work that’s already going on in this field. He is a world-class guy and really, really smart. I think he’s going to help us a lot. For Heather and I, one of our goals in life is to leave this world and our state a better and more beautiful place. We believe we can do it with this Clemson University professor because he’s going to be able to do that work long after we’re gone.”
Currently, Dwivedi’s research includes assessing the impact of federal conservation programs on ecosystem services and people, determining the role of urban forestry on the physical and mental well-being of city dwellers, as well as quantifying the role of wood-based sustainable aviation fuel in reducing wildfires. He is also starting new research programs on conservation and public health outcomes, forestry governance, climate-smart forestry and family forest landowners by working closely with faculty members at Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, and beyond to highlight the role of sustainable forestry.
“There’s a lot of action on sustainable forestry. Many people are entrusted to use wood to make various products,” Dwivedi said. “I want to make sure we are undertaking high-quality research and, at the same time, we are educating people to ensure they are investing in new wood-based products and technologies.”
Since arriving at Clemson, Dwivedi has been meeting with other faculty members in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences to learn what projects they are working on. Those meetings will eventually expand to other colleges and universities in South Carolina.
“Then, I can see how to bring all of those ideas together in a single platform so that we can use all of those ideas in a cohesive manner to go for big proposals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation to do more fundamental research to improve the sustainability of forest resources and further expand the markets of wood-based products to encourage people to participate in markets for ecosystem services to make sure everybody is getting benefits from the forest industry,” Dwivedi said.
In the meantime, Dwivedi has begun to establish his research lab. He currently has three postdoctoral research associates and two doctoral students. The first student is working on urban forestry and deliberating on policy initiatives needed for improving urban forestry management across the state. The other doctoral student is working on the management of wildfires and ways to plan for them to reduce economic and environmental losses. He also recruited seven more graduate students who will enroll at Clemson this fall to start their respective degree programs.
Dwivedi, who is from India, completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at Devi Ahilya University Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2003, but it wasn’t something he fully enjoyed. In looking at what he wanted to do in the future, Dwivedi stumbled upon forestry.
He received his master’s in forestry management in 2005 at the Indian Institute of Forest Management. After working in New Delhi for a year, Dwivedi realized he was interested in higher education and wanted to make that his career. His supervisor encouraged him to apply for the University of Florida’s doctorate program. He graduated with a doctorate in forest policy and economics in 2010.
Unable to find a faculty position due to tough market conditions, Dwivedi started as a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University for two years. After that, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for about a year. Dwivedi began working at the University of Georgia in 2013 where he was a faculty member for 11 years before coming to Clemson.
“He was a wonderful surprise,” Hilliard said. “I really enjoyed meeting him, first on the phone. I think he’s world-class. And I think South Carolina, Clemson and all are incredibly delighted that Puneet accepted the position. He’s a world-class environmentalist and professor. He’s going to play a major, important contributor to the important forestry business in South Carolina.”
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