Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium. 2013 Theme, "Canopies to Construction: the Ecology, Management and Use of Tomorrow's Forests." Dr. Renée Brooks is a Plant Physiologist at the Western Ecology Division of the Environmental Protection Agency. She is also a courtesy professor at Oregon State University in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. Her research interests include whole plant ecology, forest biology and canopy structure, biological systems within watersheds, and stable isotope ecology. She has an extensive publication history related to these topics and has been contributing to science and research for over twenty years. From her depth of experience in the field with agencies and universities, she will draw her keynote address along the themes of the power of collaboration and research flexibility to meet the research challenges of the future.For more information: http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/staff/brooks.htm.