UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Dr. Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and tree physiology in Penn State's School of Forest Resources, has received the 2002 Alex and Jessie C. Black Award for Excellence in Research.

The honor, which includes a $1,000 cash award and a plaque, recognizes significant accomplishments in agricultural research at Penn State. This is not the first time Abrams has been recognized for exemplary work. Last year, he was named the Nancy and John Steimer Professor of Agricultural Sciences.

Abrams joined the college faculty in 1982. His research program deals with broad-scale temporal and spatial changes in forests of the eastern United States using a unique multidisciplinary approach that includes the fields of community ecology, disturbance ecology, historical ecology, dendroecology (tree-ring analysis) and tree physiology.

His work focuses on understanding how stresses such as drought, climate change, fire suppression and land-use alter forests. Abrams and his collaborators have contributed significantly to the understanding of how forests in the eastern United States have changed over the last 200 to 300 years and may change in the future.

"I would like to express my appreciation for receiving this distinguished award," he says. "It is a great honor because research has been the dominant and most satisfying aspect of my professional career at Penn State. I am thankful and honored to have received this award, particularly considering the high quality of faculty here in the college."

Abrams did forest ecology research and taught during a sabbatical in Japan in 1997. He was the recipient of the Hokkaido Japan Guest Researcher Award.

He received the Charles Bullard Fellowship in 1998 from Harvard University for his research. His work was featured in a story about red maple proliferation in the Eastern Oak forest published in the New York Times in April 1999.

Abrams has served on the editorial board of a number of leading scientific journals including: Ecology and Ecological Monographs, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Tree Physiology, and Trees -- Structure and Function. He is presently serving as a committee member for "State of the Nation's Ecosystems -- Forests" for the H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.

Abrams received a bachelor's degree in biology in 1976 from State University of New York at Binghamton. He earned his master's degree in forestry from Michigan State University in 1979 and his Ph.D. in forestry from Michigan State University in 1982.

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EDITORS: Marc Abrams can be reached at 814-865-4901.

Contact: Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-863-9877 fax #301