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Participant List

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Participant List

Faculty Development Workshop: Using Continental-scale Data to Teach Undergraduate Ecology

October 2-4, 2008
Washington, DC

Barbara Abraham
Associate Professor
Biological Sciences Department
Hampton University, VA
barbara.abraham@nullhamptonu.edu

Alex D.W. Acholonu
Professor of Biology
Biological Sciences Department
Alcorn State University, MS
chiefacholonu@nullyahoo.com

Zikri Arslan
Assistant Professor
Chemistry Department
Jackson State University, MS
zikri.arslan@nulljsums.edu

Marnie Carroll
Exective Director
Dine Environmental Institute
Dine College, NM
mkcarroll@nulldinecollege.edu

E. Michael Collins
Tribal Environmental Science Instructor
Tribal Environmental Science
United Tribes Technical College, ND
mcollins@nulluttc.edu
701-255-3285, x1322

As a science instructor in tribal colleges and universities in the Northern Plains, I have renewed his relation to the prairie ecosystem and cherish the opportunity to associate with and learn from the First Peoples of this land. The Lakota elders who have opened their homes and shared their life way and indigenous wisdom with me, I owe a debt of eternal gratitude. They have imparted an appreciation for the interrelationship of all things to me , which I, in turn strive to impart to the learners in my courses. My challenge is to do justice to the vast body of unwritten wisdom accumulated through the millennia by my Native American friends and family, doing what I am able to ensure that their knowledge is passed on to their current and future generations.

Denny Fernandez del Viso
Professor
Biology Department
University of Puerto Rico at Humacao,
Puerto Rico
gamezdenny.fernandez@nullupr.edu

Jerry Griffith
Asst. Professor
Geography & Geology Department
University of Southern Mississippi, MS
griffith@nullusm.edu

John F Hermance
Professor
Geological Sciences Department
Brown University, RI
John_Hermance@nullBrown.edu

401-338-1200

Jack Hermance received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Toronto in 1967, followed by a post-doctoral at MIT, where he participated in the NASA/MIT Apollo Applications Program designing electromagnetic "sounder" experiments for manned lunar landings. He has been PI on numerous geophysical and glaciological field projects in Iceland, the Azores, the Yukon, Canada, major volcanic centers in the western United States, and environmental studies in the Northeast U.S. His current research and teaching interests range from applying environmental geophysics to near surface hydrology, particularly to those processes related to the vadose zone, groundwater and catchment runoff, to developing data adaptive signal extraction algorithms applied to earth-orbiting satellite data for monitoring land use change. He has been Associate Editor for Environmental Geology, and Tectonophysics; Chairman of the NAS CSDP Thermal Regimes Panel; Chairman of the NRC Workshop on the National Geomagnetic Initiative; and a member of the CUASHI Standing Committee on Hydrologic Measurement Systems. He has authored 80+ publications in the engineering, physics, mathematics, hydrology, remote sensing and geophysics refereed literature.

Dafeng Hui
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Tennessee State University, TN
dhui@nulltnstate.edu
615-963-5777

Dr. Hui got his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2002. His research interests are in the fields of Global Change Ecology and Ecological Modeling. He has applied both experimental and modeling approaches to study carbon, water and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. He is particularly interested in data synthesis and modeling using long-term data collected at large spatial scales. His teaching has centered on Ecology and Biostatistics.

Kenneth Klemow
Professor of Biology and Environmental Science
Biology Department
Wilkes University, PA
kenneth.klemow@nullwilkes.edu

Jamie Kneitel
Assistant Professor
Biological Sciences Department
California State University,
Sacramento, CA
kneitel@nullcsus.edu
(916) 278-3633

Dr. Kneitel is interested in understanding the mechanisms that produce and maintain spatial patterns of species diversity and its consequences for ecosystem functioning and conservation. He received my B.A. from University of California, Santa Cruz and my M.S. from California State University, Northridge where he worked on how disturbances interact to affect grassland biodiversity. He received my Ph.D. in 2002 from Florida State University where he tested metacommunity theory using pitcher-plant phytotelmata communities. His postdoctoral work at Washington University in St. Louis focused on treehole food webs. He has been a professor at CSU Sacramento since 2004 and have been working on the spatial ecology of vernal pools and factors affecting plant and insect species composition in sub-alpine meadows. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level Ecology and Quantitative Methods courses and regularly use publicly available data (from LTER, ESA, etc) for various exercises. In 2005, he participated in Science Environment for Ecological Knowledge Training in Ecoinformatics, which crystallized for him the importance of using large data sets for teaching and research.

Tom Langen
Associate Professor
Biology Department
Clarkson University, NY
tlangen@nullclarkson.edu

Margaret Lowman
Professor
Biology & Env. Studies Department
New College of Florida, FL
canopymeg@nullaol.com

As a pioneer in canopy ecology, Lowman has designed hot-air balloons and walkways for treetop exploration to solve mysteries in the world’s forests, with special expertise on insect pests and ecosystem health. Throughout her 35-year career, “CanopyMeg” utilized research as a platform to inspire innovative programs in ecology education and outreach for K-16, citizens, and policy-makers. She integrates science and education through creative pathways including large-scale distance learning (Jason Expedition), science books for public audiences, nature camps for disadvantaged youth, newspaper columns, and serving as science advisor for both regional and state governments. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and her first book, Life in the Treetops, received a cover review in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

JoseLuis Machado
Associate Professor
Biology Department
Swarthmore College, PA
jmachad1@nullswarthmore.edu
610-328-8562

Dr. Machado is a plant physiological ecologist that graduated in 1999 with a Ph.D. in Forest Resources from the University of Minnesota. He teaches ecology using a systems approach with emphasis in terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, he is developing a curriculum for students to understand ecosystem level processes such productivity, nutrient and carbon cycling, decomposition, species interactions and soil-plant-atmosphere feedbacks. In lab, students are establishing a long-term field study to investigate the balance of multiple chemical elements, their influence on distribution and productivity of plant populations, community structure, and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. Specifically, students are quantifying above and belowground productivity in 8 forests stands identifying trees and litterfall at the species level. In 2009, he will start measuring elemental chemistry of each plant tissue and soils to calculate carbon and nutrient stoichiometry. The field study will be implemented across a three-course ecology curriculum, which includes Introductory Biology, an intermediate Fundamentals of Ecology course, and the advanced independent research seminar Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning.

Mary McKenna
Associate Professor
Biology Department
Howard University, DC
mmckenna@nullhoward.edu

Cecilia Serrano
Interdisciplinary Adjunt Professor
Liberal Studies Department
National Hispanic University, CA
cserrano@nullnhu.edu

Safwat Shakir
Faculty and Director
Computer Science Department
Prairie View A&M University, TX
shshakir@nullpvamu.edu

Daniel Taub
Associate Professor and Departmental Chair
Biology Department
Southwestern University, TX
taubd@nullsouthwestern.edu

Teferi Tsegaye
Professor/Chair
Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences
Alabama A&M University, AL
teferi.tsegaye@nullaamu.edu
(256)-372-4219

Dr. Teferi Tsegaye is a Professor/Chair of Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at Alabama A&M University. As a PI and Co-PI, he has received funding over $14,000,000.00. He taught undergraduate and graduate level courses including: Soil Physics, Advanced Soil Physics, Soil and Water Pollution, Soil and Water conservation, Application of Geographic Information Systems for Natural Resources Management, Aerial Photo Interpretation, Hazardous Waste Management, Soil Survey and Genesis and Application of Geostatistics. He received several awards including Researcher of the Year Award 2001-2002, 2003-2004, and 2005-2006 from Alabama A&M University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy (2007). Dr. Tsegaye has mentored and advised numerous undergraduate and graduate students. He has authored and co-authored over 135 publications in several scientific journals and presented at many meetings, a number of which he has helped organize. He received a Ph.D. degree in Soil Physics/Geostatistics from University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland, in 1994.

Elizabeth Walsh
Associate Professor
Biological Sciences Department
University of Texas at El Paso, TX
ewalsh@nullutep.edu

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