Joel Egan is a Masters student with the Forest and Shade Tree Health Laboratory at Colorado State University. 

Joel is currently pursuing a Master's of Science degree in Entomology from Colorado State University, working with Dr. William Jacobi, Professor of Forest and Shade Tree Health, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences & Pest Management at CSU, Dr. Jose Negron, Research Entomologist for the RMRS, and Sheri Smith, Supervisory Entomologist with USDA Forest Service's Forest Health Protection (FHP) in California.

The focus of Joel's thesis work is to determine how different forest management practices of precommercial thinnings and commercial timber harvests affect bark beetle-related mortality in Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) and Abies concolor (white fir) forests of the Warner Mountains in Northeastern California. Joel will be specifically looking at Dendroctonus brevicomis, Dendroctonus ponderosae, and Scolytus ventralis as mortality agents, and determining how precommercial thinnings and commercial timber harvest impact tree speices susceptibility to bark beetles (and subsequent mortality), in terms of individual tree vigor and overall stand density.

Joel Egan was born in Florence, Kentucky, but at the age of 3 moved to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Joel later recieved an Associates of Liberal Arts from Colorado Mountain College. Joel moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where he attended Colorado State University (CSU) and recieved a Bachelor's of Science degree in Forestry. After graduation, Joel worked for the USDA Forest Service with entomologists at the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) and Forest Health Protection. Fellow workers at the Forest Service convinced Joel that studying insects and forestry together is an incredibly interesting and noble journey to engage upon; thus with their encouragement, Joel set out to pursue additional education.