Author: needham.40

Leadership Webinar #1

In our first Leadership Webinar for Cohort 2, Melinda Lloyd and Denny Hall lead the group through an outline of what’s to come this year and what Student Delegates can expect. Cohort 1 Student Delegates, Keeley Overmyer and Tannon Daugaard, also stop in to share some advice based on their experience last year.

Additionally, Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher of BioFuels Digest, the world’s most widely ready biofuels daily, stops in to give a brief overview of the bioeconomy and to preview ABLC Global. Student Delegates will meet each other, face to face, for the first time in November when CABLE attends ABLC Global in San Francisco, CA.

Student Delegate Spotlight: Daniel Pegoretti Leite de Souza

“I think CABLE will help me to develop leadership habits and problem solving skills that I do not have and that could be crucial for my career goals.”

Daniel Pegoretti Leite de Souza is a Ph.D. student in Forestry Management at SUNY-ESF. Learn more about the role his family played in his decision to pursue forestry, his career aspirations coming from Venezuela, and what he enjoys doing in his free time in our interview below.

Q: What university are you attending and what are you studying?

Daniel: Currently I am a Ph.D. student in Forest Management at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). My research focus is in shrub willow and poplar harvesting and nutrient removal, and forest sustainability.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love spending time with my family. I’ve been married for 6 years now and we have two boys. One almost 3 years old and the younger, 9 months old. Syracuse is a great place to have outdoor fun with the family during summer time, and during winter time we love spending time together in the house playing and running around, and even playing in the snow. I also love soccer and watching college football (WAR EAGLE!).

Q: What attracted you to CABLE and what do you hope to gain from your experience?

My officemate is Obste Therasme. He was a CABLE Student Delegate during the Cohort 1 and he really encouraged me to apply this year. I thought CABLE would be a great opportunity to learn more about the bioeconomy, which I used to see only from a forestry perspective, given my background. Now, after talking more with Obste and Tim Volk, Faculty Mentor from SUNY-ESF, and going through the primer lessons, I know that I will see the bioeconomy from a whole different perspective, and hope to get leading and managing skills that could help me in the future.

Q: What are your career aspirations?

To be honest, I am an international student, who has two kids and a wife, and cannot return to my home country of Venezuela. So, currently, my career aspirations are to find a job (any job related to my major) in the US, preferably, or other country that could guarantee a safe and good future for my family. However, I grew up in the forestry industry (my father is a forester) and working in the forestry industry is my goal. I hope to someday lead the research department in a forestry company.

Q: How do you think CABLE can help you in achieving your professional goals?

I think CABLE will help me to develop leadership habits and problem solving skills that I do not have and that could be crucial for my career goals. Additionally, I wish to learn about the other areas of the bioeconomy, not only the woody biomass production that I currently know.