Sarah Puls
Sarah in Linville Gorge Wilderness near Ashville, NC
Sarah was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Growing up, her passion for nature was ignited through hiking trips to Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks. Her journey led her to Guiyang, China, where she studied Mandarin Chinese while teaching English to children. Witnessing the escalating global climate change crisis fueled her determination to effect tangible change. She decided to pursue an education in natural resources, aiming to contribute to international efforts leveraging natural climate solutions. She received a B.S. in Natural Resources from NC State University, with minors in forestry and Chinese language.
Driven by a desire to add meaningful contributions to climate change mitigation research, she began her M.S. in Forestry at NC State, under the direction of Dr. Rachel Cook and Dr. Justin Baker, with funding provided by International Paper. On March 18, 2024, Sarah successfully defended her thesis, titled Modeling Carbon and Climate Impacts from Harvested Wood Products in Loblolly Plantations in the Southern US. Highlights from Sarah’s thesis are summarized in the box to the right.
Sarah is actively seeking job opportunities in forestry, greenhouse gas modeling, and related fields, with a preference for positions based near Boulder, CO. Sarah can be contacted by email: sjpuls@ncsu.edu
External Resources:
Thesis Highlights
Forests are a crucial component of climate change mitigation, and determining the most effective implementation of mitigation strategies requires accounting methods and tools that can accurately model GHG fluxes associated with forests.
We designed and parameterized a model that projects ex situ carbon flows for harvested wood products manufactured from southern pine, including biogenic and fossil fuel emissions, for 120 years after harvest.
We then used this model to assess carbon storage and emission trends for southern pine harvested wood products.
Finally, we incorporated this model into a dynamic life cycle assessment (dynamic LCA) analysis to identify forest management strategies for loblolly pine plantations in the southern US that have the highest climate change mitigation potential.
Puls, S.J., Cook, R.L., Baker, J.S. et al. Modeling wood product carbon flows in southern us pine plantations: implications for carbon storage. Carbon Balance Manage 19, 8 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-024-00254-4
NCSU article about Sarah’s research: Improving Wood Products Could Be a Key to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Sarah’s carbon tracking model, LobWISE, is available to FPC members here.
Graduate Defense Audio Recording and Slides (March 18, 2024)
The flow of harvested wood product carbon from southwide loblolly and shortleaf pine timber harvested in 2020.
