Skip to Main Content

FNR Faces in the Crowd: Dante Francomano, Matthew Aghai

Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources alumni are making an impact across the world in the areas of aquatic sciences, forestry and wildlife and beyond. Recently two FNR alumni were featured in national publications for their research or work impact.

Dante Francomano, who completed his PhD in ecological sciences and engineering (ESE) in December 2020, had his work on soundscapes featured in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The articledante-francomano-soundscapes.jpg "Beavers increase bird diversity in Tierra del Fuego" highlights his research in Argentina, which involved comparing recorded acoustic activity in intact forests, ponds created by beaver dams and meadows created after pond drainage that contain low vegetation and dead standing and felled trees. The article is based on the publication "Acoustic monitoring shows invasive beavers Castor canadensis increase patch-level avian diversity in Tierra de Fuego," which first appeared in the August 2021 Journal of Applied Ecology.

"Based on our findings, restoration might mean a patch-level reduction in bird diversity," said Francomano, who is now an instructor of the natural sciences in the Honors College at Portland State University.

Matthew Aghai, a 2008 wildlife alumnus, is part of a National Geographic article "To Regrow Forests, U.S. Needs Billions of Seeds, Many More Seed Hunters," which discusses his company Droneseed's use ofMatthew Aghai headshot swarms of drones to reforest burned sites.

"The nation's ambitious tree-planting goals aren't achievable unless we start thinking in a really big way about seed," said Aghai, senior director of biological research and development at Droneseed

Aghai completed his master's degree in forest management at the University of Idaho and his PhD in applied forest ecology at the University of Washington. He began working at Droneseed in January 2018 and also has been the general manager of Silvaseed since March 2021.

Note: Please send information to FNR Communications Coordinator Wendy Mayer at wendymayer@purdue.edu if you wish to see yourself or a fellow FNR student or alumnus featured in the Faces in the Crowd section of the website. 

Featured Stories

The Milnes Family Farm - photos of the forest and the agricultural space with a barn
Purdue Alumni Couple Funds Forestry Internship Program

Vince Milnes grew up spending time on the family farm in Brown County, Indiana, owned by his...

Read More
Jarred Brooke gives a presentation on forest management for deer
Ohio River Valley Woodlands and Wildlife Workshop Offers Chance to Learn From Extension Specialists

Do you want to learn how to get the most out of your property? Make plans to attend the 2024 Ohio...

Read More
View of the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne; Lauren Wetterau takes a selfie while doing reef flat surveys; view of the landscape from the Karunda Scenic Railway
FNR Field Report: Lauren Wetterau Caps Purdue Experience Studying Abroad in Australia

Before Lauren Wetterau graduated with her degree in wildlife in December, she had one more...

Read More
Professor emeritus Carl Eckelman sits in front of his 89th birthday cake; a least bell vireo sits on a branch; a juvenile eastern hellbender found in the Blue River in the summer of 2023
FNR's Most Read Stories of 2023

In 2023, our FNR website featured news stories on topics ranging from student, faculty, staff and...

Read More
A doe in a grassy field, a spotted salamander and an osage orange tree with fruit underneath it
FNR's Top Extension Stories of 2023

In 2023, our FNR Extension website featured stories on topics ranging from wildlife...

Read More
Lara Santiago-Sacarello drives a boat during her summer as an oyster farm intern in Maine
FNR Faces in the Crowd: Lara Santiago-Sacarello

Over the past 18 months, Lara Santiago-Sacarello has studied abroad in Australia, interned in the...

Read More
To Top