Society for Freshwater Science Election 2012

Randy Fuller

Biographical sketch: I attended my first meeting in 1976 at LaCrosse, WI and have missed only four meetings in 35 years probably because I first worked with people who strongly supported our society (Rosemary Mackay for my Ph.D. and Noel Hynes as a postdoc). I have been a professor at Colgate University since 1982, serving 10 years as chair of Biology and another 10 years as Director of Environmental Studies, and now hold a joint appointment as Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies. My involvement with our society includes serving twice on the Executive Committee, most recently as Chair during 2010-11 working on all issues the membership voted on last May in Providence. I have been a member of the Education and Diversity Committee for more than 10 years, serving as Chair for 5 years. My research interests include food web dynamics, energy flow and disturbance ecology. Most recently I have been involved in two collaborative studies, one conducted with a geomorphologist that examined impacts of recreational flow releases on large rivers in the Adirondack Mountains, and the second is examining long-term calcium loss from Adirondack forest soils and their effects on stream community structure and function.

My vision for SFS is to complete any transitional details that remain as a result of our society name and journal title change, and to promote SFS as one of the most important sources of information for policy makers, politicians, educators and the general public when they seek information about freshwater systems. We are an international organization and the research we publish in our journal and report at our annual meetings should be shared more broadly with those who are determining the fate of the environments we study, and those who educate others at all levels of society about freshwater systems. The 2014 joint meetings offer an opportunity to work collaboratively with other aquatic societies much like we are doing with the Council of Aquatic Science Societies (CASS) to be a clearing house of information for any organization or individual seeking knowledge of freshwater systems and their management. Our Science and Policy Committee has been excellent at providing white papers on topics related to freshwater resource issues in North America, but I believe we need to broaden our reach by including international members that can help develop similar summaries that have an international appeal. I have watched the society grow from a smaller, more regional society to one with a more diverse membership and an international reputation, and I hope to broaden our sphere of influence by continuing to support measures to increase the diversity of our membership (such as the Instars Program started this year) and by developing ways to share our research findings more broadly.

Sherri L. Johnson

Biographical sketch: I am a Research Ecologist with USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station, lead USFS Scientist for the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest and Courtesy Professor in Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University, Corvallis. (My involvement with the Society is in my personal capacity and not as a representative of the Federal Government.) My BS was from University of Montana (1989), MS (1991) and PhD (1995) through Zoology, University of Oklahoma. Like many, I have been a member of NABS since graduate school at the urging of my major professor, Alan Covich. My research primarily examines forest-stream interactions and focuses on processes driving the relationships between abiotic and biotic factors. Response variables include water quality, such as biogeochemical dynamics, isotopes, heat budgets and stream temperature as well as productivity, food webs and macroinvertebrate community dynamics. Much of my research is collaborative; my interdisciplinary research groups include LINX, Andrews LTER (signatory co-PI since 2002), Oregon Watershed Research Cooperative/Trask River Watershed Study. My outreach and educational efforts are focused towards scientists, natural resource managers, graduate students, teachers, and the public.

Vision and qualifications: The niche I envision for our Society is continued focus on scientific exchange and professional development at our Annual Meetings, an increasingly visible, high quality Journal, as well as expanded opportunities for interaction and information sharing for those who cannot travel to meetings using multi-media (web, newsletters, videos, newsletters). Ideally the Society can help members become better at what they do, whether they are scientists, educators, students, managers or policy makers. With our new Journal Title and Society Name, we have the opportunity to have the society and the journal be more visible beyond our membership and recognized as a highly knowledgeable group on a broad range of information and issues relating to fresh waters.

If elected, I would be responsible for helping organize the joint meeting planned for Portland OR in 2014. I feel that joint meetings can provide valuable new opportunities for interaction with members of other societies but that it is very important to keep the core characteristics of prior NABS meetings, including open exchange of ideas in formal and informal settings, inclusive and welcoming atmosphere and mentoring opportunities. My qualifications include long history of working in groups to achieve major products, long involvement with NABS and helping with outreach for our society as the chair of PIP committee. As President I would involve members in opportunities for new creative outreach activities and convene nationally respected science communicators to interact with us about productive and effective communication methodologies and opportunities.

Caryn Vaughn

Biographical sketch: Caryn Vaughn is an aquatic ecologist, conservation biologist, and educator. She earned her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Oklahoma and did postdoctoral studies in Marine Biology at Rice University. She is currently the Director of the Oklahoma Biological Survey and a Professor of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma. She has broad training as an ecologist and has worked in a variety of ecosystems (reservoirs, estuaries, small streams, and large rivers) and with a diversity of organisms (e.g. insects, mollusks, fish). For the past 20 years, her research has centered on the ecology and conservation biology of freshwater mussels. She is an author of over 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and over 50 technical reports. She teaches courses in Ecology, Stream Ecology, and Invertebrate Zoology, and has directed the research of 8 PhD, 7 MS, and 22 undergraduate students. Her work has been recognized through the awarding of the Donald W. Tinkle Research Excellence Award from the Southwestern Association of Naturalists and a President’s Associates Presidential Professorship from the University of Oklahoma.

Qualifications: I have been a NABS member since 1979 and have attended every annual meeting since 1988. I have served on the JNABS editorial board since 2004. Past service to NABS includes stints on the Executive Committee (1995-97), Hynes Award Committee (current), Conservation Committee, Aquatic Ecosystem Services Committee and Elections and Place Committee. I also served several terms on the governing board for the Southwestern Association of Naturalists and am the current President of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society. As an Academic Delegate I would seek to represent the interests of academic members (faculty and students), foster relations with other scientific societies, and communicate the importance of freshwater science to funding agencies, policy makers and the public.

Alan Steinman

Biographical sketch: Al Steinman received his PhD from Oregon State University in 1987 and did his postdoctoral research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory working with Pat Mulholland. He has been Director of Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute since 2001. Previously, he was Director of the Lake Okeechobee Restoration Program at the S. Florida Water Manag.District. Steinman’s research interests include nutrient cycling, sustainability science, restoration ecology, and algal ecology.

Steinman has published over 100 scientific articles and book chapters, is on the Editorial Board of three scientific journals, has been awarded over $45 million in grants for scientific and engineering projects, and has testified before Congress and the Michigan and Florida state legislatures. His awards include Phi Beta Kappa, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Outstanding Planning Achievement Award, Joan Hodges Queneau Palladium Medal from the National Audubon Society, Massapequa High School Hall of Fame, and Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) Outstanding Reviewer. Currently, he is a member of advisory boards for the U.S. EPA, the International Joint Commission, Healing our Waters, CMU’s Beaver Island BioStation, the University of Notre Dame’s GLOBES program, and the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy’s Michigan chapter. Qualifications: I view the Society for Freshwater Science as my primary scientific home, having been an active member since 1983. Some of my Society service includes having served on the journal’s Editorial Board under all 3 managing editors, helping organize the annual meetings in Orlando, FL and Grand Rapids, MI, and participating on numerous committees. It is an honor to be considered as a delegate to the Board of Directors representing the Academic category.

I am truly confident that regardless of who is elected, the Academic sector within the Society will be well-represented. If you don’t know Caryn or myself personally, and prefer not to flip a coin to determine your choice, here are a few things to know about me: 1) I have a decent sense of humor; 2) my experience at GVSU has provided me with a broad perspective on academe: GVSU is a predominantly undergraduate-oriented university but with focused research in a few areas, including water; 3) I serve on numerous Boards of Directors, giving me experience on the appropriate role of Board members; and 4) as Director of an Institute, I understand budgets, fundraising, and strategic planning.

David Costello

Biographical sketch: I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research (CILER) at the University of Michigan and received my PhD from the University of Notre Dame in 2009. My research focuses on how human activities alter freshwater ecosystem structure and function. My varied projects have included many themes of interest to SFS members including: biogeochemistry, invasive species, ecotoxicology, and riparian ecology. I look forward to the SFS/NABS meeting each year and I am eager to play a more active role in the society.

Qualifications: I attended my first NABS/SFS meeting as an undergraduate in 2003 and have continued to be a member of the society and attend the annual meeting through graduate school and into my post doc. I have been a judge of student presentations and an active member of the graduate resources committee. As my career as a freshwater scientist has developed, SFS has been a catalyst for interacting with potential colleagues, intellectual stimulation, and the development of new research ideas. During the transition from student to independent scientist, some choose to leave the society, but I believe the excellent research and networking opportunities provided by the society are invaluable to a new scientist. I would like to expand the involvement of early career members as both mentors and mentees during the annual meeting and improve our presence on the website. As the Early Career delegate to the Board of Directors, I would be an advocate for those of us in our most dynamic part of our career.

Michelle Greenwood

Biographical sketch: Since completing my doctorate at Canterbury University, New Zealand in 2008, I have worked for an ecological consultancy firm and had two post-doctoral positions, one with a university and one with a government-owned Crown Research Institute. My research topics have ranged from how a gradient of flood disturbance intensity alters the importance of cross-ecosystem subsidies between rivers and a terrestrial predator (riparian fishing spider; PhD thesis), to investigating how stream size and the degree of riparian management can mitigate agricultural and urban land-uses effects on aquatic communities. In my current post-doc I have returned to research similar to my PhD; investigating the biological linkages between aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities within different habitats of a braided river (stable springs to active main channels). This research contributes to understanding how alterations to the river floodplain, caused by climate or water abstraction- induced changes to flood frequency, may affect not only aquatic communities but also the terrestrial system. As with most early career scientists, once my current post-doc finishes at the end of April, I will be at another crossroad in my career. I hope to continue with scientific research, but I also relish the challenge of presenting science to non-scientists and am considering developing my career as a science communicator.

Qualifications: Although my research has been conducted in New Zealand, I have benefited greatly from the society meetings I have attended (2003, 2006, 2010 and 2011). My first meeting was a defining experience; as an undergraduate from New Zealand I had no idea that scientific meetings could be so large, with such a diverse and interesting range of talks. To attend these meetings and share my research with colleagues has been one of the highlights of my research career so far. Surviving scientifically to make the progression from a graduate student through early career researcher to a successful and established scientist is a difficult road. Our society plays a large role in helping us progress; as a forum for discussion of ideas and results, as a location to meet future colleagues or employers and also as a motivating force in reminding us why we love science, how many questions there are still without answers, which questions are the most pressing, and why it is important that we strive to answer them. I would love the opportunity to contribute ideas towards maintaining and improving the benefits that the society and its annual meeting provides to students and early career researchers.