Terence Yorks curriculum vitae

of Employment / Leadership / Teaching / Honors / Computer and Other Languages

[Warning: text sometimes reflects excessive exposure to academia.]

Photographs copyright © 2002 and 2005 by Terence Yorks

Professional Experience

1990-
Present

Principal Scientist, High Level Research, Smithfield, Utah, USA, through direct contracts with end users and/or subcontracts including: Western Ecological Services, Millville, Utah; Limbus Environmental Consultants, Bellingham, Washington; Ecotone Environmental, Logan, Utah; Galli/Shipley Associates, Bountiful, Utah; Colleges of Science & Natural Resources at Utah State University; and Best Care Med, Logan, Utah.

Currently active:

    Refining integrative calculations of cumulative human interactions with our planet. Creatively outlining and mathematically underlining potentially less destructive behavior patterns.

    Innovatively illustrating analyses of long-term vegetation changes, including progress of wetlands rehabilitation efforts, along with effects on threatened and endangered species. Improving presentation of associated documents, not least their translation into web-accessible formats.

    Photographically documenting, and quantitatively relating, environmental impacts for other issues, from gravel extraction and transportation, to comparing traditional intensive development with more integrated human uses based on native species restorations.

   Using more effective database evaluation and statistical tools, restructuring published information for both physicians and patients, to allow more clearly evaluating medical research literature for disease-specific diagnostic accuracy, alternative identification approaches, overall risks, and newer therapeutic pathways. This has included potential treatments for ruptured posterior tibialis tendon and for sclerosing cholangitis; comparisons among endometrial biopsy methods; and evaluating lasers as a tool in reducing periodontal damage, hordeolum, chalazion, herpes outbreaks, and osteonecrosis associated with bisphosphonate chemotherapy.

Completed:
      Deduced a single equation that allows direct, quantitative comparisons among motorized and self-powered land use alternatives, by integrating their overall resource impacts. This began with an exhaustive research literature distillation, which has been widely used by other researchers. Graphically displayed the results, including the practical background for calculations. Key conclusions became readily understandable for land managers and user groups, reaching across all levels of scientific background, from peers to the untrained, during this communication process.

    For BIA, BLM, Utah DOT, Wyoming Highway Department, and Forest Service decision-makers: elicited quantitatively accessible key information from published and direct field research about rangeland vegetation, livestock, wildlife, air and water quality, toxic materials, soils, and noise, by summarizing each within NEPA Environmental Assessments and Impact Statements. Then directly handled oral and written public comments, assuring full, unbiased coverage of opinions, and complete responses to questions.

   Similarly placed those issues in perspective for the public within various proposed prairie dog control, cattle and wildlife management strategies, gas well development, pipeline location, wetland rehabilitation, and major road reconstruction in Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. This included assisting assembly, final editing, and quality control for complete EA and EIS documents.

      Designed a long-term, bison-based range management, meat processing, and value-added marketing system, in detail, for the Cheyenne River (Lakota) Sioux. This became a conclusive link in obtaining and utilizing a $1.5 million USDA grant for a mobile slaughter and processing plant, to be utilized by a Tribal business consortium.

  Re-evaluated long-term vegetation data from Utah and Idaho wildlands, using innovative graphical and statistical analytical approaches. Clearly delineated the role of species diversity, particularly highlighting compensation for environmental changes by production shifts among plant groups.

   Cross-checked data quality and analysis pathways, revising conclusions as needed, while producing research reports that were electronically accessible, aesthetically attractive, with the most vital information more effectively highlighted — for large-scale projects by other scientists at Utah State University and the USDI Bureau of Land Management.

   Quantified close-up photos, using computer image analyses, to establish ground truth for comparing repeat aerial photography and orthophotoquads, thereby deriving more effective measurements of changes among vegetation-related landscape features. Tested Leica Geosytems/ERDAS OrthoBase software for potential to convert multiple 2D vegetation images to 3D formats for quantitatively assessing cover, biomass, and fuel loads.

    Created a concise, but comprehensive, database of plant species and soil responses to foot and motorized traffic for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, exhaustively searching and distilling published literature and trackable reports. Derived mathematically consistent relationships among key variables from that assembled data.

   Utilized ArcView GIS with AHVRR NDVI remote sensing data across vegetation types, calculating primary productivity and secondary greenups to more effectively predict wildlife survival rates.

   Graphically conceptualized animal-grazing plant utilization while mapping strategies to more clearly reveal long-term vegetation change, based on quantitative, computer-assisted interpretation of photographic field records.

1989-
1990 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan.
   Designed research strategies, using refined classic field methods, to more accurately understand landscape-level, long-term ecological responses to climate and human management choices.

   Rediscovered and re-evaluated a uniquely representative 35 km backcountry vegetation transect that had been established in 1933. Highlighted changes and similarities through the statistical analyses, computer graphics, and photographs for peer-reviewed and popular text.

    Field-tested the potential for monitoring changes in radioactive cesium previously deposited in fallout to quantify semi-desert soil erosion rates.

1988
Consultant and Contract Instructor, PVRI, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

    Compared and corrected past estimates of large-scale agricultural and natural productivity. Drafted a system-level response to global needs to reduce U.S. fossil fuel use rates by 90%, and preserve complex natural ecosystems worldwide, yet allow for increased human health and physical comfort. To successfully accomplish this modest goal, separated underlying functions from common assumptions on how to fulfill related needs. This let otherwise unexpected possibilities emerge. Detailed the most promising practical energy and land use reforms and searched for a publisher.

    Taught biological resource evaluation at Simon's Rock of Bard College.

1985-
1987 Systems Scientist, Range Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie.    Guided graduate-student programmers to create a model of forest/rangeland function and a more easily accessible database of ecological details about animal use, vegetation, and soils for each of the state's 130+ range site types.

   Physically re-examined grazing exclosures throughout Wyoming. Photographed them analytically and representatively. Translated previous quantitative conclusions into visual terms, using carefully selected side-by-side recent repeat and older images to clarify long-term repercussions of management choices.

   By invitation, produced additional seminars on refining field photographic techniques.

    Taught graduate, undergraduate, and high school classes in range management and natural resource analysis.

summer 1986 Consultant on Rangeland Management, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat, Kuwait.    Related early-season rainfall to consequent vegetation growth and proper domestic animal stocking rates through computer models. Detailed data acquisition needs to validate the models.

   Initial results suggested unexpectedly large impacts on soils and vegetation from off-road vehicle use. National policy was to be adjusted accordingly. The subsequent war underlined the accuracy of this impact projection.

1984-
1985 Staff Officer, National Research Council (National Academy of Sciences), Washington, D.C.
    Responsible for selecting highest-level scientists and diplomats for an extended conference to create a hemisphere-wide agreement to improve producer and consumer safety for foods in international trade. Administered a initial budget of $400,000. Secured more than $200,000 in additional support from Federal and international agencies. Hired and supervised professional and secretarial staff. Arranged meeting details for conference space, translators and written translations, international and local transportation, contiguous lodging, and meals.

    Made suggestions on scientific and legal material, which were consistently adopted by cabinet-level South, Central, and North American governmental oversight groups.

1983-
1984 Senior Technical Information Specialist, InterAmerica Research Associates (contractor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Washington, D.C.     Redesigned a major confidential industrial chemical activity characteristics computer database (Technical Data Information System). Supervised DEC-DPL and ADABAS-NATURAL language encoding of data into that system by 3 technical information specialists. Retrieved and explained chemical and toxicological studies for decision-maker regulatory reviews of new and existing chemicals.

1982 Research Associate, Range Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
   Designed and completed a uniquely complete and consistent computer database of national and international comparative grazing trials that have lasted at least three years. Using it, cross-referenced worldwide wild ungulate and domestic animal behavior to vegetation growth patterns.

winter 1982 Visiting Assistant Professor, Range Science, Utah State University, Logan    Tied together the most nearly quantitative extant descriptions of entire Douglas fir/ponderosa pine potential natural communities as possible models for more complete worldwide comparisons of natural productivity and condition.

1980-
1981 Research Associate, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
   Brought reporting coherency to highly disparate five-year responses among all animal species (from bacteria on up) to experiment-controlled releases of sulfur dioxide gas on test Montana grassland ecosystems. Compared conclusions, collaboratively, with long-term, larger-scale results of uncontrolled steel mill emissions on forests in Poland.

   Completed a preliminary-format quantitative description of all U.S. ecosystem types for the USDA Forest Service. This included supervised editing of submissions from more than 100 authors and resolving complex data and text inconsistencies. The resulting volumes have been regularly used at several universities as graduate texts.

1979 Operations Research Analyst [GS-12], Range Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, D.C.
   Debugged the operating system and language for a Univac 1100-80 database for multiple resource outputs in the nationwide Resource Planning Act Assessment, guiding several FORTRAN programmers and a Sperry support team. Took just weeks to complete the data handling portion of a Geographic Information System in which millions of dollars had been invested, but had been held up for a year by internal glitches. Invited to become an active part of a team of senior ecologists; adjusted forest and range production/condition data that had been roughed-out by a series of national workshops. Used deductive logic to assure harmony of information within that database.

   Results, including my graphic presentations (including GIS displays done the hard way, by photographic map separations), went directly to the U.S. Congress, and remain important in Forest Service decision-making.

1976-
1978
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

   Provided data for, and completed, an original linear-program CDC-Cyber computer model of U.S. beef production. Derived detailed estimates, from the literature and from interviews within the various industries, for energy requirements to: irrigate crops; manage cattle on rangelands and feedlots; process, store, transport, and prepare meat for consumption. Extracted sensitivity analyses. Identified potentials for reduction of fossil fuel inputs to the system, at all levels from fodder growth to final consumer and commercial cooking.

    Projected -- and published -- anticipated trends in the industry, which continue to be borne out in fact.

1971-
1975
Graduate Research Assistant, Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station.

   Evaluated potential for extraction of food-grade protein by mechanized fractioning of perennial grasses. Compared fossil energy utilization, soil erosion rates, and nutritional consequences with traditional crop and livestock production. Successfully combined leaf proteins into extruded human foods at Rothamsted Experimental Station in England.

   Tested solar bleaching destruction of carcinogenic aflatoxins, and variably toxic cottonseed gossypol, at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Odeillo, France.

    Recognized within the university community for a scientifically-prophetic summary of the harvest potential of Antarctic krill for human food and its ecological consequences.

Leadership and Community Service

1995- 2008

Cache Transmitter Committee, Logan, Utah

   Fundraising and other creative support for volunteer operated KRCL-FM community radio in Salt Lake City, successfully preparing to bring their signal more effectively to northern Utah. One letter, written carefully enough to reach U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (not just his staff), helped break an FM licensing logjam within the FCC, which also notably aided more than 200 non-profit radio applicants nationwide in reaching their transmitting goals.

1993- present
Transportation Issue Lobbyist, Utah
  Organized local residents and data in opposition to inappropriate gravel mining and hauling operations. Documentary photographs proved egregious legal violations, and resulted in fines large enough to catch corporate attention. The effort markedly improved road safety, noise levels, mine reclamation, and air quality in the community, while enhancing profitable commercial activity.

   A letter to incoming Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson that was published in the Salt Lake Tribunein response to his publicly asking what he could do about serious area-wide pollution and traffic tieups induced him to replace his large personal SUV with a more responsibly sized vehicle. Others have also done likewise, becoming part of a pattern that would at least halve ongoing related problems. Weight kills.

1995-
1996 Commercial and Industrial Committee, Cache County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Logan, Utah.   Developed long-term strategies with area business and government leaders for coordinated responses to ongoing population growth and/or economic expansion. Identified needs and problems, and then formed a coherent set of goals, directions, and alternative plans for the county.

1986-
1987 Invited member, Education and Agriculture Roundtables, Wyoming Futures Project, Ucross, Wyoming.   Met in extended, small-group retreat sessions to examine likely problems related to the future of Wyoming. Developed specific plans of action in intense workshops with state legislators, agency heads, and community leaders.

1980-
1983 Volunteer Firefighter,
Poudre Park rural fire district, Colorado.   Participated in numerous state and local training sessions for residential, range, and forest fire behavior and suppression. Earned Forest Service “red card” status. Assisted fighting several intense fires, and personally saved at least one life.

1980-
1982

Consultant, Preserve Our Poudre, Fort Collins, Colorado.     Edited, printed, and distributed a quarterly newsletter which evaluated proposals to build major dams in the 10,000 square mile Cache la Poudre watershed, and advocated protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Computerized, maintained, and expanded a 1,400-contributor mailing list. Produced a statewide-travelling slide/text/poetry presentation to encourage citizen interest in the present value of the resource.

    Critiqued two previous $250,000 engineering-economic studies, and gave testimony about mistakes in their assumptions to the state legislature, which resulted in dismissal of those proposed damming plans as hopelessly flawed. Subsequently enacted restraints on development have been cited by retired Colorado Senator Hank Brown as one of his most important achievements.

Teaching Experience

1988 Contract Instructor, Biology, Simon's Rock of Bard College, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.    Originated portions of a team-taught Introduction to the Natural Sciences by critically evaluating Aldo Leopold's scientific logic for land use choices. Guided student experiments to compare growth on natural areas to that on human-managed plots.

1985-
1987
Temporary Assistant Professor, Range Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie.

   Designed and taught the following courses:

     Computers and the Environment for the university's Summer Institute for gifted high school juniors (team-taught with Dr. Kathleen Capels);

      Problem Solving Using a Computerized Systems Approach (for graduate students in rangeland ecology);

      Orientation to Range Management (for all undergraduates; also taught in abbreviated versions at Northwest Community College and several high schools); and

      Ecosystems and Plants (for range science undergraduates).

   Also shared practical computer, effective photographic documentation, and environmental analysis topics as guest lecturer for other range and agricultural planning courses.

1982 Visiting Assistant Professor, Range Science, Utah State University, Logan.    Assisted in preparing and teaching Intermountain Wildlands (with Dr. Neil West), presenting an ecological overview of the territory.

1969-
1970 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas.    Responsible for laboratory General Physics and Introduction to Astronomy. Recognized by permanent staff for success with creation of interest among students who had no previous math or science, and in bringing previously silent Native Americans and Chicanos into active class discussions. Also substitute-taught general science at West Las Vegas High School.

Honors/Awards/Additional Background

   New York State Regents Scholarship (1965); National Merit Scholarship finalist (1965); Colorado State University Creative and Performing Arts Scholar (1967-9); first Texas A&M University international graduate exchange student [to England, and to France] (1972); election to Phi Tau Sigma, national food science honorary society (1973); election to Sigma Xi, national science honorary (1976); finalist, Mitchell Prize Competition (1977); inclusion in American Men and Women of Science (1986); proposal selected in open competition for a new course at the University of Wyoming Summer Institute (1987); proposal (A Mobile Slaughter Plant for Bison and Other Tribally-Owned Animals) prepared for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Pte Hca Ka, Inc. funded by the United States Congress through special appropriation to the Rural Development Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture for $1.5 million (1994).

Photographic and graphic design work commissioned by:

  The DeMenil Foundation (1973-74); Peaceable Kingdom Foundation (1973-76); Texas World Speedway (1973); Willie Nelson Festival (1974); USDA Forest Service (1980); University of Wyoming (1986 and 1996); USDI Bureau of Land Management (1987); Utah State University College of Natural Resources (1995-2005); Ecotone Environmental, Logan, Utah and Limbus Environmental Consultants, Bellingham, Washington (1993-2006).

One-man exhibitions of fine prints at galleries in:

  Fort Collins and Estes Park, Colorado (1978, 1979); Logan, Utah (1991, 2009).

Languages:

   Two years college Spanish; three years H.S. French and one year German; undergraduate scholarship winner for effective use of written and spoken English.

Comprehensive computer familiarity:

Apple/Mac OS-9 and X; Windows 95, NT, XP, and Vista; MS-DOS; and Unix direct operating systems. Using within them registered or trademarked software, including:

ArcView GIS (ESRI certified)
Leica Geosystems/ESRI IMAGINE/OrthoBASE
Systat
SAS-JMP
SigmaPlot
Adobe Photoshop
InDesign
Illustrator
PageMaker
Acrobat Professional
Dreamweaver
Flash
FreeHand
CorelDraw
HomeSite HTML
FileMaker Pro
Access
Excel
PowerPoint
Word
WordPerfect
QuattroPro
Lotus 1-2-3
FoxPro
Alpha Four
Pro-Cite
Advanced Revelation
PDBase
Norton Utilities

on IBM and CDC/Cyber mainframes, IBM-PC, and/or the Apple II:

IBM-JCL
ADABASE/NATURAL
DEC-DPL
FORTRAN
UCSD Pascal
dynamic linear optimization
GIS and associated database design, coding, and operation.

  Then, there are things that I don't yet understand, like these patterns on the pasture north of our home, after a very cold snowfall at the end of November 2005 ...

Yorks Home Page / Ongoing Projects / Education / Publications / Fascinating Quotations / Slow Blog / Web Trolls

Images, words, and design © 2010 by Terence Yorks — all rights reserved.

Latest Update - 6 April 2010.


1985- 1987	Systems Scientist, Range Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie.	Guided graduate-student programmers to create a model of forest/rangeland function and a more easily accessible database of ecological details about animal use, vegetation, and soils for each of the state's 130+ range site types.
		Physically re-examined grazing exclosures throughout Wyoming. Photographed them analytically and representatively. Translated previous quantitative conclusions into visual terms, using carefully selected side-by-side recent repeat and older images to clarify long-term repercussions of management choices. By invitation, produced additional seminars on refining field photographic techniques. Taught graduate, undergraduate, and high school classes in range management and natural resource analysis.


summer 1986	Consultant on Rangeland Management, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat, Kuwait.	Related early-season rainfall to consequent vegetation growth and proper domestic animal stocking rates through computer models. Detailed data acquisition needs to validate the models. Initial results suggested unexpectedly large impacts on soils and vegetation from off-road vehicle use. National policy was to be adjusted accordingly. The subsequent war underlined the accuracy of this impact projection.


1984- 1985	Staff Officer, National Research Council (National Academy of Sciences), Washington, D.C.	Responsible for selecting highest-level scientists and diplomats for an extended conference to create a hemisphere-wide agreement to improve producer and consumer safety for foods in international trade. Administered a initial budget of $400,000. Secured more than $200,000 in additional support from Federal and international agencies. Hired and supervised professional and secretarial staff. Arranged meeting details for conference space, translators and written translations, international and local transportation, contiguous lodging, and meals. Made suggestions on scientific and legal material, which were consistently adopted by cabinet-level South, Central, and North American governmental oversight groups.

1983- 1984	Senior Technical Information Specialist, InterAmerica Research Associates (contractor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Washington, D.C.	Redesigned a major confidential industrial chemical activity characteristics computer database (Technical Data Information System). Supervised DEC-DPL and ADABAS-NATURAL language encoding of data into that system by 3 technical information specialists. Retrieved and explained chemical and toxicological studies for decision-maker regulatory reviews of new and existing chemicals.


1982	Research Associate, Range Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.	Designed and completed a uniquely complete and consistent computer database of national and international comparative grazing trials that have lasted at least three years. Using it, cross-referenced worldwide wild ungulate and domestic animal behavior to vegetation growth patterns.
winter 1982	Visiting Assistant Professor, Range Science, Utah State University, Logan	Tied together the most nearly quantitative extant descriptions of entire Douglas fir/ponderosa pine potential natural communities as possible models for more complete worldwide comparisons of natural productivity and condition.
1980- 1981	Research Associate, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.	Brought reporting coherency to highly disparate five-year responses among all animal species (from bacteria on up) to experiment-controlled releases of sulfur dioxide gas on test Montana grassland ecosystems. Compared conclusions, collaboratively, with long-term, larger-scale results of uncontrolled steel mill emissions on forests in Poland. Completed a preliminary-format quantitative description of all U.S. ecosystem types for the USDA Forest Service. This included supervised editing of submissions from more than 100 authors and resolving complex data and text inconsistencies. The resulting volumes have been regularly used at several universities as graduate texts.



		Leadership and Community Service

1995- 2008	Cache Transmitter Committee, Logan, Utah	Fundraising and other creative support for volunteer operated KRCL-FM community radio in Salt Lake City, successfully preparing to bring their signal more effectively to northern Utah. One letter, written carefully enough to reach U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (not just his staff), helped break an FM licensing logjam within the FCC, which also notably aided more than 200 non-profit radio applicants nationwide in reaching their transmitting goals.

1993- present	Transportation Issue Lobbyist, Utah	Organized local residents and data in opposition to inappropriate gravel mining and hauling operations. Documentary photographs proved egregious legal violations, and resulted in fines large enough to catch corporate attention. The effort markedly improved road safety, noise levels, mine reclamation, and air quality in the community, while enhancing profitable commercial activity. A letter to incoming Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson that was published in the Salt Lake Tribunein response to his publicly asking what he could do about serious area-wide pollution and traffic tieups induced him to replace his large personal SUV with a more responsibly sized vehicle. Others have also done likewise, becoming part of a pattern that would at least halve ongoing related problems. Weight kills.

1995- 1996	Commercial and Industrial Committee, Cache County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Logan, Utah.	Developed long-term strategies with area business and government leaders for coordinated responses to ongoing population growth and/or economic expansion. Identified needs and problems, and then formed a coherent set of goals, directions, and alternative plans for the county.

1986- 1987	Invited member, Education and Agriculture Roundtables, Wyoming Futures Project, Ucross, Wyoming.	Met in extended, small-group retreat sessions to examine likely problems related to the future of Wyoming. Developed specific plans of action in intense workshops with state legislators, agency heads, and community leaders.

1980- 1983	Volunteer Firefighter, Poudre Park rural fire district, Colorado.	Participated in numerous state and local training sessions for residential, range, and forest fire behavior and suppression. Earned Forest Service “red card” status. Assisted fighting several intense fires, and personally saved at least one life.



		Teaching Experience

1988	Contract Instructor, Biology, Simon's Rock of Bard College, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.	Originated portions of a team-taught Introduction to the Natural Sciences by critically evaluating Aldo Leopold's scientific logic for land use choices. Guided student experiments to compare growth on natural areas to that on human-managed plots.

1985- 1987	Temporary Assistant Professor, Range Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie.	Designed and taught the following courses: Computers and the Environment for the university's Summer Institute for gifted high school juniors (team-taught with Dr. Kathleen Capels); Problem Solving Using a Computerized Systems Approach (for graduate students in rangeland ecology); Orientation to Range Management (for all undergraduates; also taught in abbreviated versions at Northwest Community College and several high schools); and Ecosystems and Plants (for range science undergraduates). Also shared practical computer, effective photographic documentation, and environmental analysis topics as guest lecturer for other range and agricultural planning courses.

1982	Visiting Assistant Professor, Range Science, Utah State University, Logan.	Assisted in preparing and teaching Intermountain Wildlands (with Dr. Neil West), presenting an ecological overview of the territory.

1969- 1970	Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas.	Responsible for laboratory General Physics and Introduction to Astronomy. Recognized by permanent staff for success with creation of interest among students who had no previous math or science, and in bringing previously silent Native Americans and Chicanos into active class discussions. Also substitute-taught general science at West Las Vegas High School.