Kevin Lyons

Kevin Lyons serves as the Wes Lematta Professor of Forest Engineering and Director of the Mechanized Harvesting Laboratory at Oregon State University's College of Forestry, Department of Forest Engineering, Resources & Management. His work integrates engineering principles with sustainable forest management practices.

Research Focus

Dr. Lyons specializes in forest operations engineering with emphasis on harvesting safety systems, forest road design, and mechanized harvesting technologies. His research addresses critical challenges in worker safety through innovations like energy-absorbing cab guards and advanced tree-felling systems. Current projects focus on cable logging dynamics, tethered harvesting operations, and optimizing forest infrastructure for environmental sustainability.

Academic Contributions

His publication record demonstrates consistent leadership in forest engineering, with recent work analyzing skyline tension dynamics, winch-assist harvesting, and elevation-based resource extraction. Research trends show increasing integration of computational modeling with field validation across diverse global contexts from the Pacific Northwest to the Italian Alps.

Professional Activities

• Graduate Major Advisor for forestry students
• Teaches core courses: FE 370 Harvesting Operations, FE 371 Harvesting Process Engineering, FE 416 Forest Road System Management
• Directs the Mechanized Harvesting Laboratory producing video documentaries on innovations like the Felbot felling machine