New SRS Assistant Director Named
The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station is pleased to announce that Dr. Kier D. Klepzig will be joining them as Assistant Director-Research of the Southern Research Station. His focus will be leading the science and people of the "Threats to Forest Health" Science Area for the Station.
Kier has strong standing in the science community. He comes to this position following 10 years as Research Entomologist and Project Leader of the Southern Research Station’s Insects, Diseases and Invasive Plants unit in Pineville, LA. In that position he developed strong and lasting ties with partners in the forest health science community regionally, nationally and internationally. He also developed secure relationships with the co-located National Forest and State and Private Forest Health Protection partners in Pineville. Kier received his PhD in Entomology and Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a Professor at Southern University, and joined the Forest Service in 1995.
Kier’s wife, Lisa, high school daughter, Cassie, and parents, John and Melba will relocate to Asheville, NC, in November; his son, Graham, is a freshman physics major at Louisiana Tech. Kier’s effective date is October 12.
