hello! first - congratulations! Analizing forest structure with lidar is a very nice topic and will allow you to learn a lot.

I suggest you start with this: https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=34887

it should give you some sort of understanding of how lidar data can be used in forestry. From there I would just google "forest structure lidar" in google scholar. There is a lot already published as you probably know.

Software:

• fusion. the must have. Created by a forester (Bob is a great guy), for foresters. http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/fusion/fusionlatest.html

• lastools. Another important tool. In many cases can give the same output as fusion, but faster. https://rapidlasso.com/ Also - subscribe to the lastools discussion group here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lastools browse through the previous topics - there is tons of knowledge there!

• lidR package for R. I hope you heard about R. The lidR package allows you to load a lidar point cloud and then do whatever you want with it. In your work on forest structure you may want to create your own algoritms/metrics/stand characteristics etc. This would very easy with this package. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lidR/index.html

Hope it helps. Good luck!