Francis Ndar Onduso, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Forestry
Academic Affairs
College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources
112 Hunter Hall
400 East Main Street
Frankfort, KY 40601
Contact:
Phone: (502) 597-6094
Email: francis.onduso@kysu.edu
Bio:
Dr. Onduso is currently assistant professor of forestry at Kentucky State University. He received his PhD in Environmental Dynamics from University of Arkansas Fayetteville in 2013. He earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Science Health & Safety Management from The University of Findlay, a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Forestry from Moi University, and Diploma / BS eq. in Forestry from Egerton University.
Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Onduso worked with central government of Kenya as an educator, forester and later, as district forestry officer. He has wide experience in research, teaching, forestry management & extension, and ergonomics. He has international research experience covering temperate forests of Canada and USA, tropical evergreen forests of East Africa, and tropical dry deciduous forests of India as well as afforestation of ASALs south of Sahel.
Research Interests: Agroforestry, Botany, Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, Ethnobotany, Forest and Fire Ecology, Forest Management, Genomics, Mycoforestry, Restoration Ecology, Silviculture, Toxicology, and Urban Forestry. Though Dr. Onduso has broad research interest, his current research focuses on agroforestry and long-term forest stand dynamics, and testing the efficacy of classical and novel management approaches aimed at forest adaptation to future environmental change and multiple land use practices.
Teaching: Dr. Onduso has taught several courses at graduate, undergraduate and high school levels. Graduate Courses: Restoration Ecology, Conservation Biology, Experimental Design and Statistics. Undergraduate Courses: Agroforestry, Field Botany, Microbiology, Principle of Biology, Range Management, Toxicology, and Wildlife Management among others. His current teaching assignment is Agroforestry and Forest Ecology.
Extension/Outreach: His extension work includes community forestry and development of continuing agroforestry education programs for farmers and other stakeholders such as agriculture and natural resource professionals to engage, expand impact, and empower them with the knowledge and skills needed to adopt and implement agroforestry practices, ultimately promoting sustainable agriculture for food sovereignty, environmental stewardship, and economic resilience.
Dr. Onduso has successfully written numerous research grants securing grant money to the tune of millions in total from NSF, NIH, and American Indian College Fund among others. He is the author or coauthor of several peer reviewed journal articles.