2013 Nominations Committee: Craig Benkman (Chair), Bonnie Bowen, and John McCormack.
The following six people (in alphabetical order) have agreed to be nominated for the Cooper Ornithological Society (COS) Board of Directors to serve from 2013 to 2016.
Alice Boyle is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University. Alice received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and completed post-doctoral research at the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia. Much of her work has addressed the evolutionary ecology of migration, including detailed studies of a tropical partial altitudinal migrant. Recent and current work includes studies of life histories along elevational gradients, the physiological ecology of breeding Tree Swallows, links between climate and dispersal behavior in grassland birds, and consequences of wind development for migrant birds and bats in the Great Plains. In 2011 she was awarded the Ned K. Johnson Young Investigator Award from the American Ornithologists' Union. She has been active at ornithological meetings since 2002 and has served as a judge of awards for student presentations. Additionally, Alice chaired the media committee and helped organize social events at the 2012 NAOC in Vancouver. As a member of the Board of Directors, Alice will strive to ensure that the COS meets the needs of the next generation of ornithologists while honoring the society's heritage. She is keen to strengthen support for young investigators through research and presentation awards, increasing involvement by early-career scientists in the society, and working to ensure students remain engaged with COS following completion of their studies.
Matt Carling is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming and is also the Curator of Vertebrates of the University of Wyoming's Museum of Vertebrates. Matt received his B.Sc. from the University of Michigan and his M.Sc. from the University of Idaho. Following his Ph.D. at Louisiana State University, he did a postdoc at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Broadly speaking, his research explores questions related to adaptation and speciation in birds. In this work he often uses hybrid zones to study patterns of gene flow and introgression between bird species and how environmental heterogeneity at the landscape level influences these genetic patterns. He has published papers in the Condor and the Auk as well as in Evolution, Molecular Ecology, Genetics, and other multidisciplinary journals. In 2011, he was honored with the Young Investigator Award from the Cooper Ornithological Society. Matt has been on the American Ornithologists' Union's Collections Committee since 2008 and has assisted with both the Student Travel Awards and Student Presentation Awards committees for most AOU/COS meetings over the past 5 years. He is also currently on the Scientific Program Committee for the upcoming 2014 AOU/COS meeting to be held in Estes Park, Colorado. Matt is eager to be involved with the COS during these transitional times. He recognizes the importance of and need to continue to recruit young professionals to become or remain active in the COS. Further, Matt is enthusiastic to work toward expanding research and travel support for students and other young investigators.
Kevin McGraw is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary and Systems Biology in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Kevin received his M.Sc. from Auburn University, his Ph.D. from Cornell University, and did his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Davis. Kevin's research focuses on the control, function, development, and evolution of brilliant colors in birds. He has published over 150 papers in this area and in 2006 co-edited a two-volume series Bird Coloration (Harvard University Press). In 2005, Kevin was awarded the Ned K. Johnson Young Investigator Award by the American Ornithologists' Union and the Outstanding Young Investigator Award by the Animal Behavior Society. Kevin joined COS as a graduate student in 2000 and for the past four years has served on the editorial boards of the Condor and the Auk. He is an Elective Member of the AOU and has served on the executive committee of the Animal Behavior Society (currently as first Member-at-Large) since 2010. For four years, Kevin served on the AOU Special Committee for Young Investigators and has a special interest in COS initiatives in student engagement, diversity and inclusion, and membership retention. Because of his history in publication and editing with the Auk and the Condor, he also has strong interest in the recently approved COS—AOU joint-publication venture and new journal formats.
Paul Nolan is an Associate Professor of Biology at the Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina, where he teaches lecture and lab-based courses in Ornithology, Animal Behavior, Vertebrate Natural History, and Introductory Biology. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State, an M.Sc. in Avian Sciences from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Auburn University, where he studied the role of song and plumage as multiple ornaments in the House Finch. His postdoctoral projects—at Auburn and at Arizona State—included further work related to the signal content of plumage and skin colors. His current research has three broad foci, in sexual selection, disease ecology, and habitat choice by birds. Next year should see him on sabbatical, working with colleagues at Oxford to develop non-invasive techniques for monitoring the size and health of colonies of King Penguins, Rockhopper Penguins, and Gentoo Penguins in the South Atlantic and on the Antarctic Peninsula. He has co-authored papers in the Condor, Journal of Ornithology, Journal of Field Ornithology, Wilson Bulletin, Ibis, Journal of Avian Diseases, as well as Science, Evolution, Behavioral Ecology, the Proceedings of the Royal Society, and 11 other journals. He has also served as a reviewer for 20 journals, the National Science Foundation, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Past service to the COS includes 2 years reviewing proposals submitted to the Mewaldt—King student research award committee; he later chaired the Mewaldt—King committee for 3 years, evaluating all 125+ proposals submitted during that period. Paul is currently finishing his 4th year as President of the 1100-member Charleston Natural History Society (CNHS), where he has worked successfully to reform the group's cash flow, build an extensive digital presence by establishing the group's blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and transitioning the popular newsletter into an interactive and colorful digital format. Other accomplishments with CNHS include leading the renovation of the group's 149-hectare nature preserve as a field station for graduate research and as an educational site for K—12 students. As a result of his leadership, CNHS is now also a sponsor of the Grice Marine Lab's research colloquium for graduate students. If elected to the COS Board of Directors, he hopes to tackle the continuing problem of declining membership faced by most scientific societies while also examining the possibility of augmenting the group's variety of income sources, to help us meet the society's mission to study, support, and conserve bird populations through robust, high-impact research.
John T. Rotenberry is Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of California, Riverside, where he also served as Campus Director of the university's Natural Reserve System and was Associate Director of the university's Center for Conservation Biology. He currently works in the College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, developing a network of biological field stations for the college. He has worked on the ecology and population biology of birds in arid shrublands and grasslands for nearly 40 years, with particular emphasis on habitat and diet selection, reproductive biology, and community ecology. More recently his research has expanded to encompass the conservation biology of vertebrates, especially from a landscape ecological perspective. He has authored or co-authored over 100 refereed papers, and has presented or co-authored over 200 papers at professional meetings and at other universities. He has been an active member of ornithological and ecological societies, including service on the Board of Editors for Ecology and as editor of Studies in Avian Biology, the latter for over 10 years. He is an Honorary Member of the Cooper Ornithological Society and has also served as the Society's president. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Service to the ornithological community has included work for PRBO Conservation Science, the Science Advisory Committee of Audubon California, the California Natural Community Conservation Planning Program, and the Sonoran Joint Venture. John welcomes the opportunity to continue his decades-long commitment to advancing the interests of COS during a period of challenges to and dynamic change in the structure of ornithological societies.
Philip Stouffer is a Professor in the School of Renewable Natural Resources at Louisiana State University. He received a B.Sc. in Biology from Bucknell University in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Rutgers University in 1989. He held a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian, where he began his long-term involvement at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in Amazonian Brazil. His research involves field-based studies of ecology and conservation of birds. These include landscape-, community-, and population-level questions in a variety of systems, including neotropical rainforests, longleaf pine savannahs, bottomland hardwood forests, managed pine forests, and salt marsh. Among his 65 publications are 11 papers in the Condor as well as in the Auk, Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Journal of Field Ornithology, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, and many other journals. He is especially proud of his coauthorship of a cd collection of bird voices from 340 species of central Amazonia. He has advised 25 graduate students and has served on the graduate committees of many more, including 11 students at Brazil's National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA). Phil joined COS and the other North American ornithological societies as a graduate student. He considers these societies to be his most important professional affiliations and has served them as Associate Editor (the Auk), Book Review Editor (Journal of Field Ornithology), Student Award Judge (COS), and Scientific Program Chair (NAOC). Phil recognizes that the North American ornithological societies, including COS, face significant challenges that will inevitably lead to changes. He welcomes the chance to serve on the COS Board of Directors as we address these challenges. He is committed to fair consideration of possible changes that could enrich our science, enhance our professional opportunities, and allow us to share our love for birds.
