Kyle Turchick is a PhD student at Cornell University specializing in disturbance ecology and, to a lesser degree, biogeography. Kyle earned a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a Master of Science from the University of Colorado Denver, where he researched landslides and windstorms in Southeast Alaska’s old-growth rain forests. After his master’s and before his doctorate, he worked as a fire ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Southwestern Colorado, evaluating fire management strategies in the southern Rocky Mountains. His broad background in disturbance ecology informs his current research on utility-scale solar facilities covering thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management land. Through the lens of disturbance ecology, Kyle aims to contextualize human-induced disturbances with natural disturbance processes, ultimately contributing to land stewardship.