Brenda McComb received a BS in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Connecticut, an MS in Wildlife Management from the University of Connecticut, and a PhD in Forestry from Louisiana State University. She has served on the faculty at the University of Kentucky and Oregon State University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and served as Chief of the Watershed Ecology Branch in Corvallis for US EPA for one year. She currently works at University of Massachusetts and part time at Oregon State University. She is an author of over 100 publications and currently is on the editorial board for Conservation Biology. Ongoing research addresses the projection of habitat availability for focal species over the Oregon Coast Range and modeling dynamics of coarse woody debris in northeastern forests.