Stella Dee

Concentration: Forest Resources and Arboriculture

Degree Plan: Ph.D

Started program: January 2022

From: St. Louis, Missouri

Stella Dee is an ISA- and Massachusetts-certified arborist whose current research looks at the mechanical, physiological and ecological consequences of standard arboriculture pruning methods, as well as the application of finite element models to arboriculture. Her underlying research interest is in arboricultural strategies for maximizing mature tree retention and fostering an intact, resilient overstory of mature trees in residential ecosystems during an era of climate change. She is supervised in this work by Dr. Brian Kane.

Prior to entering the PhD program at UMass, Stella was working as a commercial climbing arborist in Boston and Western Massachusetts, as well as spending some time as an inventory arborist for the Davey Resource Group on the Asian Longhorned Beetle Survey in the Worcester area and assisting the Kane Lab with research into cabling and bracing strategies in trees. She holds a Masters of Forestry from Michigan Technological University and a B.A. in Archaeology and International Comparative Studies from Duke University.