Academic Career
Dr. Selva attended Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, earning bachelor's degrees in biology and botany. He continued his education at Iowa State University in Ames where he earned his PhD in botany. His dissertation focused on establishing biostratigraphic units based on freshwater diatoms preserved in the soil of the Ogallala Aquifer. During the course of his research, Selva discovered seven new species of diatoms.
In 1976, Dr. Selva began his teaching career at the University of Maine at Fort Kent where he teaches courses in environmental studies, dendrology, general botany, plant taxonomy, plant physiology, and lichenology. In 1983, Selva spent seven months in Ottawa studying the lichens of Aroostook County, Maine (where UMFK is located) with Dr. Irwin Brodo.
Though the University of Maine at Fort Kent does not require research as a condition of employment, Dr. Selva actively pursues many ongoing lichen research programs, receiving grants from organizations such as the Appalachian Mountain Club, The Nature Conservancy, the New Brunswick Museum, the National Geographic Society, and the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. The focus of his lichenological research centers on the use of stubble lichens as environmental indicators, both in reference to the age of a forest and its level of pollution.
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