Nick Macalle is a recent graduate of Warren Wilson College, a farm school in Southern Appalachia, where he studied ecological forestry with a focus on agroforestry.

As a 2019 Fulbright US Student Researcher, he is collaborating with Dr. Risma Illa Maulany at the University of Hasanuddin in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Their research collaboration addresses the lack of interface between ecological and social dimensions in the research of tropical agroforestry. Through a transdisciplinary approach, they aim to understand how forestry and agriculture management practices impact the biodiversity of the landscape, the livelihood of rural communities, and the conservation of the soil fertility in South Sulawesi.

Nick has a background in agriculture and has worked on farms and in forests across the US. Prior to his Fulbright award, Nick worked for the US Forest Service in Oregon as a wildland firefighter.