Ray Albright
Adjunct Associate Professor

Dr. Ray Albright is a research coordinator with the USDI National Park Service. He serves as a federal representative within the Southern Appalachian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), a cooperative of universities and research associations that provide science to the National Park Service. The University of Tennessee is host to the Southern Appalachian CESU, and accommodates Dr. Albright in the Dept of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries. Dr. Albright also holds an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment in the Department of FWF. Dr. Albright is a forest ecologist, specializing in
forest hydrology and forest soils.

Dr. Albright was born in Covington, Kentucky, but spent his first 18 years of life in South Central Africa (Malawi and Zambia). He returned to the US to attend college and received a B.S. degree in Forestry and M.S. degree in Forest Hydrology from the University of Kentucky. He was able to work for the US Forest Service Northeast Experiment Station as a student intern for almost 2 years during that period. He received his Ph.D. in Forest Ecology in 1989 from the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. His dissertation was titled "Fate of Atmospheric Aluminum Deposition Emitted from a Coal-Fired Source Within Surrounding Oak Forests in Southwestern Illinois". Immediately after receiving the degree, Dr. Albright spent 5 months in Japan, as a visiting Assistant Professor, teaching introductory biology at a branch university of the Southern Illinois University system.

Dr. Albright joined the USDA Forest Service in 1990, serving as a forest hydrologist in both California (Stanislaus National Forest) and in Alabama (National Forests in Alabama). He was very involved in practical forest management in matters dealing with timber sales, snow ski areas, wildfire rehabilitation, wetlands, grazing permits, surface mining, and stream restoration to name a few. He was also an active wildland firefighter, a GIS trainer, and on the management planning team. Dr. Albright was awarded the USDA Certificate of Merit in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 twice, and 2001. He received the Certificate of Appreciation in 1998 twice and 2001.

In 2001, Dr. Albright joined the USDI National Park Service, serving as the research coordinator for the Southern Appalachian CESU. He also fills the same position with the Piedmont - South Atlantic CESU. Dr. Albright works closely with 40-45 different parks across the southeast US, ensuring that the parks have access to science and that scientist have access to the parks. Dr. Albright has become integrated into the Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, serving on several graduate committees and guest teaching in three different courses. His primary focus remains at providing national parks usable knowledge in a timely manner. Dr. Albright was awarded the USDI Certificate of Merit in 2004.

Dr. Albright is a member of the American Water Resource Association (and a reviewer of the Journal of AWRA) and Phi Kappa Phi, Xi Sigma Pi, and Gamma Sigma Pi honor societies. He enjoys traveling (with a goal to visit the top ten waterfalls in the world), fiction writing, reading, wood working, and day hiking. He resides in south Knoxville with his wife and three sons.

 

Contact Information

Ray Albright
Adjunct Associate Professor
Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries
274 Ellington Plant Sciences
(865) 974-7126
Email: ralbrigh@utk.edu