 New faculty book: The Changing Environment of Northern Michigan: A Century of Science and Nature at the University of Michigan Biological Station
Edited by Professors Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Alan J. Hogg, and Brian A. Hazlett, this new book covers the last century of scientific study of wildlife and environmental change at the U-M BioStation.
Northern Michigan is undergoing unprecedented changes in land use, climate, resource extraction, and species distributions. For the last hundred years, the University of Michigan Biological Station has monitored these environmental transformations. Stretching 10,000 acres along Burt and Douglas Lakes in the northern Lower Peninsula and 3,200 acres on Sugar Island near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the station has played host to nearly 10,000 students and a steady stream of top scientists in the fields of biology, ecology, geology, archeology, and climatology.
“The Changing Environment of Northern Michigan” collects essays by some of these scientists, who lead readers on virtual field trips exploring the history of people and science at the station itself, the relations of indigenous people to the land, the geophysical history of the region, characteristics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, key groups of organisms and their relations to local habitats, and perspectives on critical environmental challenges of today and their effects on the region. Accompanying the chapters are color illustrations and photographs that bring the station's pristine setting to life. For further information and to order the book, visit the University of Michigan Press.
 Learning about teaching: Ammerlaan awarded Teagle Fellowship
Dr. Marc Ammerlaan was awarded the Teagle Fellowship for the 2009-10 academic year to examine the way students learn, funded by a grant through the U-M Center for Research and Learning on Teaching. Fellowship recipients include five instructors from the sciences, and five from humanities and social sciences who will form the Colloquium on the Science of Learning. Fellows are selected based on their commitment to teaching and collegiality.
The fellows read key articles, discuss papers critically and in relation to their own teaching and their students' learning, attend presentations by relevant experts, and trade perspectives. This year begins a new focus on multiculturalism and diversity. He finds it invigorating and rejuvenating to connect with faculty from across campus to share ideas, especially about how to reach students and learn new ways to present challenging, stimulating material to them. He’s excited about attending seminars that keep him thinking about teaching. At the end of the academic year, CRLT will host a forum for panels of Teagle Fellows to present commentary based on the literature and discussions.
 New faculty book: Nature’s Matrix
Professors John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto have published a groundbreaking book, “Natures Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty.” They propose a radically new approach to the conservation of biodiversity based on recent advances in the science of ecology as well as political realities, particularly in the world’s tropical regions.
According to the book’s preface, their analysis stems from the current (and probably future) nature of tropical landscapes as being mainly fragments of natural habitat surrounded by a ‘sea’ of agriculture. Recent ecological theory shows that the nature of those fragments is not nearly as important for conservation as the nature of the matrix of agriculture and other management systems that surround them. The only way to promote such high-quality matrices is to work with rural social movements, the authors state.
"We wrote this book partly to inform the conservation community that recent advances in basic ecological theory force their activities into a more expansive framework, especially with regard to the structure of tropical agriculture," said Vandermeer. "Especially in a world where a billion people go hungry every night despite overproduction of almost all agricultural commodities, we want people to realize that the conservation of biodiversity and the struggle for food sovereignty are two sides of the same coin."
Vandermeer is the Asa Gray University Professor in EEB, Perfecto is the Charles Willis Pack Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and their co-author Angus Wright is emeritus professor of environmental studies at California State University Sacramento. For further information and to order the book, visit Earthscan, publishing for a sustainable future.
 Brower Fellowship awarded
Jess Middlemis Maher is the 2009 recipient of the Helen Olsen Brower Memorial Fellowship in Environmental Studies from EEB, which is awarded annually to a graduate student working in applied sciences for the conservation of natural resources. The prestigious award provides one semester of fellowship funding for stipend, tuition and benefits. Sally and Caspar Offutt, Jr., endowed this fellowship in tribute to Sally's mother who graduated in biology in 1917 from the University of Michigan. Brower led a vigorous public life touching on wide-ranging endeavors from politics to war relief. She invariably found her greatest satisfaction with projects involving the outdoors.
Maher’s research program measures the effects of the environment on individual health and fitness in amphibians, especially the effects of early experiences on later-life behavior and physiology. The 2008 Brower fellows were: Emily Farrer, Aley Joseph, Amanda Zellmer and Maher (this is the second consecutive year Maher has been selected).
 Kurdziel’s bright IDEA
Dr. Jo Kurdziel, EEB lecturer and assistant research scientist, has been awarded a $100,000 grant for three years from U-M’s IDEA Institute for her project “Injecting assessment in the introductory biology curriculum to improve student learning and teaching.” Kurdziel is developing a collaborative team to assess, and ultimately improve, the new introductory biology sequence as part of this collaboration between the natural science departments in U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and the U-M School of Education.
IDEA stands for the Instructional Development and Educational Assessment Institute. Their mandate is to improve and advance, through research and practice, undergraduate science teaching and learning at all levels, including teacher training and collecting data on student learning. The team will have preliminary results by the end of winter term 2011.
Best poster prize
EEB graduate student Andres Baeza won the Lotka-Volterra award for best poster presentation at the 2009 Ecological Society of America meeting. The poster was titled “On the emergence of conservation behavior in a land-use model with ecosystem services.” He collaborated with Professor Mercedes Pascual and Andy Dobson, a professor of EEB at Princeton. The Theoretical Ecology Section of the ESA awarded the tenth annual Alfred J. Lotka and Vito Volterra prize on the basis of merit, originality, and clarity of presentation. Congratulations!
 Being a standout has its benefits, study shows
Research published in Evolution by EEB graduate student Michael Sheehan and Professor Elizabeth Tibbetts was recently featured on the U-M home page. It is currently on the U-M News Service home page. Watch for an EEB research feature coming soon. Photo by Sheehan.
 New species' numbers rise with rising mountains
"The major times of (species) diversification directly coincide with times of large tectonic events," said Professor Catherine Badgley, who presented the findings in September 2009 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Bristol, UK.
Read more in Naturenews. Photo: Railroad Canyon, Idaho by Dr. Anthony Barnosky. The ridge in the middle ground has a series of fossil localities of Middle Miocene age. Data from these localities were part of the database that Professor John Finarelli and Badgley analyzed for the results presented in their paper.
 EEB welcomes new lecturer
Dr. Laura Eidietis joins EEB from Hunter College of the City University of New York where she was an assistant professor of science education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching. Eidietis is coordinating BIO 171 (Intro to Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) and teaching the honors discussion sessions; teaching BIO 108 (Animal Diversity for non-majors); and teaching and coordinating graduate student instructor (GSI) training.
Eidietis received her Ph.D. in biology from U-M. Afterward, she spent two years as faculty in the Biology Department at Eastern Michigan University teaching mostly biology education classes. Her research interests in biology involve using biomechanical tools to help understand the migrations of lamprey. Specifically, she has recently looked at Pacific lamprey making their way up manmade ramps. She enjoys considering the interaction between the physics of the environment and animals.
In science education, she looks at factors that influence the inclusion of topics and activities in classrooms, specifically looking at teacher/instructor decision making. Most recently, this has focused on ocean and Great Lakes education.
“My husband and I are thrilled to be back in Ann Arbor -- he did his MBA at UM,” the Michigan native said, “and I'm thrilled to be back home. We are happily battling invasive species in our back yard and working on growing our family a little in the near future.”
In memoriam – botany legend
Professor Emeritus Rogers McVaugh was an internationally renowned authority on a wide variety of plants in the families Compositae, Myrtaceae, Campanulaceae, woody Rosaceae, and the flora of Mexico, as well as botanical history and nomenclature. He died Sept. 24, 2009 at the age of 100.
“Rog,” as he was known to his friends, began his association with the University of Michigan in the Department of Botany and Herbarium in 1946, following appointments at the University of Georgia and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was curator of vascular plants from 1946 - 1979, the year of his retirement, and director of the Herbarium from 1972 - 1975. He was named Harley Harris Bartlett Professor of Botany in 1974. His focus on the flora of western Mexico and collaboration with his former student, William R. Anderson, culminated in the acclaimed series “Flora Novo-Galiciana.”
Owing to McVaugh’s prodigious field work and expertise in neotropical families, which brought ceaseless gifts for determination from other collectors, the U-M Herbarium is a treasure trove for plants of Mexico and the families that were his specialty.
McVaugh received numerous honors for his outstanding scholarly contributions and remained active in research throughout his retirement. He was appointed research professor of botany at the University of North Carolina in 1980 and adjunct research scientist at the Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. His relatives and friends gathered for a joyous celebration of his 100th birthday in June. He was born May 30, 1909. He certainly left his mark at U-M and far beyond. Read more on the U-M Herbarium Web site.
Michigan Society of Fellows: EEB now boasts two Fellows
The Michigan Society of Fellows, under the auspices of the Rackham Graduate School, was established in 1970 with endowment grants from the Ford Foundation and the Horace H. and Mary Rackham Funds. Each year the society selects four outstanding applicants for appointment to three-year fellowships in the social, physical, and life sciences, and in the professional schools. In 2007, the Mellon Foundation awarded a grant to add four Mellon Fellows annually in the humanities, expanding the number of fellowships awarded each year from four to eight. These diverse young scholars share their creativity and excellence through interaction and mutual enlightenment, making a truly unique contribution to the quality of scholarly life at U-M.
 EEB is fortunate to currently have two Michigan Fellows. Manja Holland joined EEB in 2008 after earning her Ph.D. with distinction from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She researches the ecology of disease with a particular focus on environmental contexts that promote disease emergence as well as collateral effects on communities. Her previous research focused on patterns of macroparasite infection and disease in amphibian hosts in the human-dominated landscapes of the northeastern U.S.
Holland is also interested in the broader role of parasites in structuring ecological communities and food webs and maintaining biodiversity. Holland taught Disease Ecology in 2008-2009 with Professor Johannes Foufopoulos.
Evan Economo, EEB's new Michigan Fellow, hails from the University of Texas at Austin where he earned his Ph.D. in ecology, evolution and behavior. His research interests are in three interrelated areas: biodiversity theory, which seeks to mechanistically explain patterns of diversity across geographic space and across the tree of life; the ecology, evolution, and biodiversity of ants in the Pacific islands, a spatially complex network of communities; and biological scaling, particularly the consequences of allometric scaling of metabolism for populations and ecosystems.
Professor and Chair Deborah Goldberg is currently a Senior Michigan Fellow. “It saves my sanity,” she says of her experience, “and reminds me why I wanted to be at a university.”
Historically, one to two Michigan Scholars have been appointed to EEB at a time. The most recent past scholars (and current assistant professorship locations) include: Mike Benard (Case Western, Cleveland, Ohio), Paul Fine (University of California at Berkeley), and Chuck Davis (Harvard).
Application information is on the Michigan Society of Fellows Web site.
A day in the life of a graduate
EEB has launched a new Web page to give prospective students (and other interested parties) a glimpse of what it’s like to walk in a grad’s shoes.
EEB graduate RSS feeds launched
Click on the RSS links on the graduate student home page to stay informed about graduate funding, events and jobs. These RSS feeds replace the weekly graduate newsletter that used to be e-mailed to you.
Faculty search underway
The University of Michigan invites applications for two tenure-track assistant professor positions in microbial ecology: one in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and one in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. (more)
 Welcome Pej Rohani
We are pleased to announce the arrival of Professor Pej Rohani to EEB. He joins us from the Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia. His main research interests are theoretical ecology, infectious disease ecology and evolution, population dynamics, mathematical and computational modeling, and metapopulations. Rohani is also a professor in the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. He will teach cross-listed courses on infectious disease ecology and modeling infectious diseases.
He is currently researching the epidemiology of whooping cough, the transmission dynamics of the avian influenza virus in North American wild bird populations (for which he just received an NSF grant), the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (a stored product pest) and its competitor, the Almond moth, Ephestia cautella and their natural wasp enemies. Rohani is collaborating with Professor Aaron King, has written articles with Professor Mercedes Pascual and looks forward to collaborations with several others in EEB and epidemiology. “There are so many cool people around – it’s very exciting,” he said.
Rohani is an advisor to the World Health Organization helping to improve estimates of mortality and morbidity for measles and whooping cough. He has advised their QUIVER (Quantitative Immunization and Vaccines Related Research) committee for the past couple of years.
 Wright wins best poster (again)
EEB graduate student Jeremy Wright received the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists’ Storer Award in Ichthyology for his poster, “Aposematism and Müllerian mimicry in a group of Lake Tanganyikan catfishes.” He presented his poster at the society’s annual meeting in Portland, Ore. in July 2009 and captured the prize for a second consecutive year.
The annual Storer Award goes to the best single-author student poster presented at the meeting. Posters are judged on innovation, originality, and scientific significance, as well as quality of presentation and visual aids or graphic design. Wright’s poster is display in the Fish Division of the Museum of Zoology. Bravo!
 In memoriam – trailblazing scientist
Professor Emeritus Lawrence B. Slobodkin, who taught at U-M from 1953-1968 and was a key figure in the development of ecology and evolutionary biology as a modern science, died Saturday, September 12 at age 81.
He is being remembered as a trailblazing scientist, a quirky and inspirational professor, and an admired friend known for his quick humor and deep engagement with the arts, Jewish studies, and progressive politics. He was the founding chairman of Stony Brook University's Department of Ecology and Evolution.
According to Douglas Futuyma, distinguished professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook who studied under Slobodkin at the U-M, he helped advance the study of ecosystems from a descriptive science to one based on conceptual questions and hypotheses within a more mathematical framework. He furthered the ideas of the field's seminal thinker, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, under whom he'd studied at Yale before getting his doctorate in 1951 at the age of 23.
With two colleagues at U-M, he wrote a three-page paper in 1960 that "must be the most frequently cited paper in the entire field of ecology to this day," said Futuyma. Newsday press release.
Zak awarded Collegiate Professorship
Don Zak has been named Burton V. Barnes Collegiate Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, effective September 1, 2009. He is also a professor in EEB and an adjunct professor in Geological Sciences.
Barnes, a U-M professor emeritus, is a world-renowned forest ecologist who worked to understand the biology and ecology of forests over a career that spans multiple decades. “I’ve always believed that ecological ideas should be tested through field research and experimentation, and that, in turn, should be integrated into a teaching program. I’ve been inspired by Burt’s ability to do that seamlessly – it’s something I aspired to achieve.”
During his undergraduate education, Zak took an ecology course that required Barnes’ book “Forest Ecology” and remembers thinking, “this is something I want to do.” Zak co-authored the latest edition of the text, which he uses in his class Soil Ecology. He teaches the course this semester, and spends two afternoons in the field teaching students. Zak recently received the highest award given by the Soil Science Society of America for work in soil biology and biochemistry, the Francis Clark Distinguished Lectureship; he will deliver the lecture on November 3, 2009 during the Society’s Annual Meeting. He also received the 2006-2007 Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award from SNRE students.
Zak received his doctoral degree from Michigan State University in 1987, and completed a postdoc at the University of Minnesota. His work centers on understanding how composition is linked to function in soil microbial communities and how those links influence the flow of energy and cycling of elements in terrestrial ecosystems. There are thousands of microorganisms in any handful of soil that we know nothing about, he said. His research spans the gamut from molecular biology, working on gene transcription, to understanding how that can influence ecosystem processes. His work also investigates how ecological theory can be applied to microbial communities.
The professorship, which is for a five-year renewable term, is one of the highest honors the college and the university can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty.
Pictured: Burton Barnes and Don Zak
 Google PageRank inspired coextinction research
Former postdoctoral fellow Stefano Allesina and Professor Mercedes Pascual created an algorithm inspired by Google’s PageRank, which rates Web pages based on pages that link to them. They applied their algorithm to a different kind of web – food webs. Their research was published in the online journal PLoS Computational Biology in September 2009.
The algorithm uses the links between species in a food web, which describes the complex eating relationships between species, to determine the relative importance of various species. Their research forms the basis for a more comprehensive treatment of extinction risk in ecosystems. Allesina just moved from a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Ecological Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, to an assistant professorship at the University of Chicago. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Pascual's lab. See New York Times and BBC articles.
 Kling named Collegiate Professor
George W. Kling has been awarded the Robert G. Wetzel Collegiate Professorship by the U-M Board of Regents effective September 1, 2009.
Wetzel was a professor of biology at the University of Michigan from 1986 to 1990. According to Kling, he is probably the most well-known aquatic ecologist in the world. He published 23 books and over 400 journal articles. His textbook, “Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems” is the classic treatise in the field.
“One special trait of Bob’s that I particularly admired was his commitment to supporting and encouraging young scientists in developing countries,” said Professor Kling. “Bob loved this university, and even after he left he visited many times in part because he had family in the area, but mainly to soak up the place and renew his feeling of being a part of our intellectual community. Much to our loss, Bob passed away in April 2005. In 1990, when I came to the university just one year after he left, I inherited his office and laboratory – I still think of Bob often as I sit at his old desk.”
Kling received his doctorate degree from Duke University in 1988 and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole from 1988-1991. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1997. He received a National Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award (1993), a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship (1995), the United Nations Sasakawa Award (2001) for his work on disaster reduction in tropical lakes, and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Ruth Patrick Award (2007) for applied work in aquatic sciences (2007).
He joined U-M in 1991 as a research scientist with the Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences and was a professor of biology for 12 years before he became professor of EEB. He is the associate chair of EEB’s graduate program. Kling studies ecosystem ecology and aquatic biogeochemistry.
The professorship, which is for a five-year renewable term, is one of the highest honors the college and the university can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty.
Pictured: Robert G. Wetzel and George W. Kling
 Vandermeer appointed University Professor
John H. Vandermeer has been appointed as the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology by the U-M Board of Regents effective September 1, 2009. Appointment to a Distinguished University Professorship is one of the most coveted honors conferred by the university upon a member of its faculty.
Asa Gray (1810-1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. He was instrumental in unifying the taxonomic knowledge of the plants of the North American continent. He was appointed a professor at the University of Michigan in 1838, but resigned before visiting Ann Arbor and served at Harvard from 1842 to 1873. Gray knew and corresponded with Charles Darwin and was one of Darwin's supporters, not only in support of the theory of evolution in the U.S., but also in solidarity with Darwin's extensive connections with and support for the abolitionist movement.
Professor Vandermeer received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1969. After a postdoctoral position at the University of Chicago he was professor of biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook before returning to U-M. He has made significant contributions in his three major areas of research: theoretical ecology, tropical rain forest ecology, and agricultural ecology. He is unique in his ability to integrate between them, particularly in his central role in the development of the rigorous ecological theory that now underpins the understanding of complex agroecosystems and the inevitability of surprise in complex ecosystems more generally. His most recent work has shed light on the role of complex systems and spatial dynamics in ecosystem function, emphasizing the coffee agroecosystem as a model system.
The appointment recognizes Vandermeer’s extensive and outstanding scholarly achievements, his commitment to excellence in education for his students, and his extensive contributions to the University of Michigan and far beyond.
Pictured: Asa Gray and John Vandermeer
Summer cruising
EEB Professor and Chair Deborah E. Goldberg spent July 3 - 15 cruising Norway’s fjords and Russia’s White Sea as the U-M Alumni Association representative. She presented lectures, enjoyed spectacular scenery, and learned a huge amount about the cultural and political history of the region. After the cruise, she took the opportunity to conduct field work in the mountains of central Norway as part of a new collaborative project on climate change and alpine vegetation.
Water quality improves after lawn fertilizer ban, study shows
Professor John Lehman and his students provide the first evidence of the effectiveness of lawn fertilizer bans in reducing phosphorous in the Huron River and two downstream lakes. Their research, published online Aug. 14, in the journal Lake and Reservoir Management shows that phosphorus levels in the Huron River dropped an average of 28 percent after Ann Arbor adopted an ordinance in 2006 that curtailed the use of phosphorus on lawns.
In an effort to keep lakes and streams clean, municipalities around the country are banning or restricting the use of phosphorus-containing lawn fertilizers, which can kill fish and cause smelly algae blooms and other problems when the phosphorus washes out of the soil and into waterways.
Phosphorus is naturally plentiful in southeast Michigan soils, so fertilizing established lawns with the nutrient is generally unnecessary.
The study already has attracted the attention of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), which invited Lehman to present the study results at a meeting earlier this year, and may well generate interest beyond Michigan's borders.
Students Douglas Bell and Kahli McDonald were co-authors. The research was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the city of Ann Arbor.
U-M News Service press release | Lehman's project web site | Lake and Reservoir Management
Berry reappointed Herbarium director
Professor Paul E. Berry has been reappointed as director of the University Herbarium for a three-year term from July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2012.
Berry joined EEB’s faculty as professor in January 2006, when he also was appointed director of the Herbarium. His research interests are in plant systematics, and he currently directs a large collaborative project on Euphorbia and Croton, two large genera of the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. He teaches Systematic Botany (EEB 459) in the fall term. In the coming year, the Herbarium will be developing a more functional and useful Web site on Michigan plants, and it will be sponsoring a totally revised printed update of the three-volume “Michigan Flora.”
 NSF honorable mentions
The National Science Foundation has granted honorary mention status to EEB graduate students John Marino, Leslie McGinnis and Lucy Tran as part of its 2009 Graduate Research Fellowship program. NSF confers honorable mention to meritorious applicants who do not receive fellowship awards. This is a significant academic achievement nationwide. For one year, they receive enhanced access to an open network of high-performance computers, data, tools, people, and high-end experimental facilities around the world to aid their development of novel scientific theories and knowledge.
Marino researches the effects of predation and parasitism on amphibians. Currently, he's focusing on the interactive effects of insect predators and trematode parasites on green frogs. Tran's research uses geometric morphometric techniques (studying the variation and change in the size and shape of skulls) to assess how ecological factors drive speciation in African and Asian colobine monkeys. McGinnis is a fall 2009 incoming doctoral student.
African lake’s gases threaten millions, reports journal Nature
Trapped methane and carbon dioxide in Central Africa’s Lake Kivu could be set loose by a quake or landslide, according to Professor George Kling. The carbon dioxide and methane entered the lake through volcanic vents. The gases are trapped in layers 80 meters below the lake’s surface by intense water pressure.
A similar situation on Lake Nyos in the Cameroon wreaked havoc in 1986 when a huge cloud of carbon dioxide bubbled up from the lake as a probable result of a landslide. Carbon dioxide is denser than air so the cloud traveled along the ground at 45 mph and suffocated everything in its path, including 1,700 people.
Lake Kivu is more than 3,000 times the size of Nyos and contains more than 350 times as much gas. The region is a center of volcanic activity. Most worrisome is that two million people live on the lake’s banks.
Energy companies are beginning to tap the lake’s methane to bring power to the region. Some researchers say this could reduce the risk of a gas eruption, while others worry that this activity could disrupt the lake’s equilibrium, making the situation more dangerous.
"It could be one of the great remediation projects of all time: mitigating a lethal natural hazard and at the same time bringing power to people who desperately need it," said Kling. "If it is done right."
Read more: Nature | World News | Guardian.co.uk
 Gene and species trees research funded
A grant on “Estimating species trees with population genetic approaches: working towards a new phylogenetic paradigm for 21st century phylogenetics” for $356,000 has been awarded by the National Science Foundation to Dr. L. Lacey Knowles. She is collaborating with Dr. Laura Kubatko, Ohio State University.
New approaches for estimating species trees represent a fundamental shift in how gene trees are used and interpreted. Knowles' research combines empirical investigation, simulation, and theory to verify that the intriguing promises from the theoretical realm can be realized in practice when the messiness of real data is taken into account in this new area of phylogenetics. The grant begins September 2009 for two years.
 EEB’s very own artist
John Megahan is now supporting the graphic arts needs of EEB including publications, research and the Web in collaboration with faculty, students and staff. His primary appointment is with the Museum of Zoology.
 “Being the Museum of Zoology illustrator over the last 13 years has given me the opportunity to work on many fascinating projects with an amazing group of people,” he said. “In the coming years I look forward to expanding my relationship with EEB faculty, students and staff.”
Megahan studied biology and art over the years and in the early 1990s he decided to combine interests as a biological illustrator. He has worked on salmon in eastern Oregon, salamanders in western Oregon, sea lions and Marbled Murrelets (a small seabird) on the Oregon coast, and marine invertebrates in Oregon and Alaska. He has taught several classes as an adjunct lecturer at the U-M School of Art. A professional freelance artist, Megahan recently illustrated a children’s book for Sleeping Bear Press called “W is for Waves – An Ocean Alphabet” and the Pierre Paul Art Gallery showcased his paintings. He is a member of the Artists for Conservation, a non-profit, international organization dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the natural world. We’re lucky to have his skills! View his Fine Art & Illustration Web site. Painting by John Megahan, "Queen's View."
Mastodon bone unearthed in Portland, Mich.
Dan Fisher identified a bone discovered in a Portland, Mich., back yard as a 10,000- to 13,000-year-old mastodon. (watch/read) Ionia Sentinel Standard article.
Baskerville in Ann Arbor News
Read the feature story on EEB graduate student Ed Baskerville in the July 12, 2009 Ann Arbor News. He was the impetus behind the Classical Revolution Ann Arbor, which takes classical music to the public at no charge. (upcoming performance) Photo: The Ann Arbor News, Alan Warren. Read the article.
 Hunter is 100 percent EEB
Professor Mark Hunter has a 100 percent EEB appointment as of July 1, 2009. “I’m looking forward to maintaining strong research ties with my SNRE colleagues while taking the opportunity to explore new collaborations with the faculty in EEB,” Hunter said.
He will divide his teaching time between Introductory Biology (BIO 171) and a graduate course in plant-animal interactions. His research explores the role of plant quality in the population and community ecology of herbivores. It includes theoretical work on population dynamics and community assembly, and applied work on biological responses to environmental change. Hunter is also interested in linking together population processes with ecosystem dynamics.
 Northernmost Michael Jackson remembrance above 68th parallel
EEB graduate student Sarah Barbrow and other Arctic researchers took a break from science to boogie down to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in the northernmost tribute to the pop icon. Their re-creation of the famous music video took place at the Toolik Field Station in the foothills of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska.
The undertaking was a dual challenge: the scientists do not normally move in eight count steps (but they learned) and the visiting journalists had to cover a “non-climate change” news story. Melissa Gervais, a researcher and trained dancer from the University of Californa at Santa Barbara, taught them the dance during evenings after long days in the field.
The New Jersey Star-Ledger was impressed because “they only had three rehearsals” and “Arctic researchers are not generally known for their rhythm.” Jen Kostrzewski, a technician in Professor George Kling’s lab, was the brains behind the scenes due to a sprained ankle. She is the senior research assistant with Kling for the land-water interactions component of the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site at Toolik Field Station. Her first cassette tape was -- you guessed it -- "Thriller."
View video: The Great Beyond, Nature.com's science news blog and YouTube. KTUU Channel 2 local Anchorage News interviewed Kostrzewski for the evening newscasts on July 8, 2009.
Nominate your exceptional student: GESI Doctoral Fellows Program
The Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute is now accepting applications for its 2010 Doctoral Fellows Program, which offers $50,000 over two years to exceptional Ph.D. students conducting interdisciplinary doctoral research related to sustainability.
Six doctoral candidates are accepted into the fellowship program each year. The deadline to apply for the 2010 academic year is October 15, 2009. If you have a student in mind for this respected program and funding opportunity, read about the application and nomination process. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the institute by email or phone (734) 615-8230.
New photographer joins EEB team
Dale Austin, media consultant and photographer, whose primary appointment is in Geological Sciences, has signed on with EEB to assist with photography, research poster printing, and other departmental graphic needs. "Working in two departments lets me experience different approaches to our work at the U-M," said Austin.
When asked for a quote, his first inclination was “buy low, sell high,” but on reconsideration, Austin offers the following: “I enjoy being able to carry on the work of my late predecessor and good friend – one of the first people I met at U-M 25 years ago – David Bay."
Austin has 25 years experience in the field with U-M. He is a volunteer instructor for the American Red Cross, Washtenaw Chapter. He has participated in several disaster relief operations over the years, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as well as other floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Sounds like a good guy to have on the EEB team!
 Next stop for Connallon: Cornell
Tim Connallon will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University in the lab of Andy Clark, a professor of population genetics, in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics.
 Ruiz Moreno heading to Cornell
Diego Ruiz Moreno will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in July 2009 in the EEB department at Cornell University. Ruiz Moreno will be developing spatial and descriptive models of disease dynamics based on current datasets available for three parallel systems: sea corals, amphibian populations, and mosquito borne-diseases. He will collaborate with climate specialists and biologists to create a climate-based forecasting tool for corals and work with other members of Cornell's ecology and evolution of infectious disease community including Drs. Drew Harvell, Kelly Zamudio and Laura Harrington.
The position is primarily funded by a new award from the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future for research on climate effect on disease dynamics in the three systems. Additional funding is provided by an award from the Global Environmental Fund for Coral Reef Sustainability.
News archive 2009 | News archive 2008 | News archive 2007 | News archive 2006 | Return to top of current news |
|
