Young and Emerging
UCF Professionals:
Career Pathways, Advice, and Adventures
To people gearing up to study urban
forestry, my advice is to take all
opportunities to try things, because
even what you don't like shapes
what you want to do in the future.
26 CityTREES
Lillian Grace Dinkins received a
2025 UCFS Young and Emerging
Professionals (YEP) Award. She is a PhD
candidate at the University of Florida
advised by Dr. Mysha Clarke, Assistant
Professor of Human Dimensions of
Natural Resources. Dinkins is writing
her dissertation based on her research
into the outcomes of tree giveaways.
I graduated in 2020 from Tuskegee University with
a bachelor's in Environmental, Natural Resource,
and Plant Sciences with a concentration in Forestry,
Wildlife, and Fisheries. This was a 3+1 program where
the Wildlife coursework took place at Mississippi
State University. I started out at Tuskegee thinking I
wanted to study Animal Science and become a vet-
erinarian, but after consulting with Tuskegee-based
USDA 1890 Program Liaison Rodney Stone, I real-
ized that the major and concentration I ended up
in would be a better fit for me. Rodney has been
an important mentor to me, as he has been to so
many people who ended up working in Forestry or
related fields for the Forest Service or for NGOs.
At Tuskegee, Forestry Instructor Ron Smith had us
out in the Tuskegee National Forest every day. Along
with Rodney, Ron helped me get to as many envi-
ronmental science and forestry related conferences
