Student introduction: Anil Koirala, PhD Student, Biorenewable Systems

It’s never too late to start. I left college in my sophomore year because of chemistry. I helped my brother alongside his Eucalyptus plantation for two years. It took me a while to figure out what to do next. Finally, I made a decision to start my undergraduate in forestry and make a career in the natural resource sector. And now, here I’m, doing my Ph.D. in Biorenewable Systems at Penn State. 

Yes, Penn State!

Hi everyone, I’m Anil from Himalayan Nation of Nepal. My hometown is Hetauda, which is also known as the cleanest city in the country. I graduated from Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2015 with double BS degree, one in Forest Science and the other in Mathematics.

Being born and raised in Nepal, where bio-products and agriculture sector lack modern and mechanized systems, I was always keen to learn sophisticated forestry and agricultural machinery of the western world. In my final undergraduate semester, I traveled to Germany and studied forest products harvesting practices for six months at George August University, Goettingen. I got acquainted with modern wood products harvesting and transporting technologies and equipment. That moment was the turning point of my career which led my path to start master’s study with a research focus on forest operations and supply chain logistics at the University of Maine. I joined UMaine in the spring of 2016. Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into? It was so cold. I can see snow covering my windows for a week. As semester passed, I fall in love with Maine. Those rivers, trails, forests, Acadia, Bar Harbor, Baxter; you name it, Maine has everything. Now, I think why people call it “Vacationland”.

I finished my MS degree in Forest Resources within 3 semesters and started my quest for the Ph.D. in agriculture, forestry, and machinery sector. At present, I am a second semester Ph.D. student at Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering working under Dr. Jude Liu. My research is focused on harvesting and logistics of energy crops for biomass feedstock. I am helping farmers reduce the cost involved in harvesting using simulation techniques.

I was confused whether to register for this teaching course or not at the beginning. After the first class, all my confusion is waving goodbye. I am looking forward to our next exciting session.