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Officers


CHAIR

Lilli Kaarakka is a forest ecologist interested in understanding forest ecosystem function in forests facing environmental change in California and across the West. Forest management plays an important role in controlling the stand biomass stock and therefore that of carbon. Thus, it is impossible to understand global terrestrial C sink without understanding forest demography.

 

 

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VICE CHAIR

Alyson East is a Post-Masters ORISE Research Fellow working collaboratively with the US Forest Services’ Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, and Oak Ridge National Lab. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maine in Ecology and Environmental Science and a Master’s Degree from Montana State University. Her work generally revolves around remote sensing applications of landscape ecology, ranging from topics of global conservation initiatives to studying stand-level effects of Amazonian understory fire. Her current research involves network analysis for the Experimental Forests Research Network and generating data products to make net ecosystem impacts of forest disturbance across the united states as part of the ForWarn early disturbance detection program. Outside of work, she is an avid recreationalist and can often be found hiking, biking, paddle boarding, or foraging with her dog and husband.

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SECRETARY-TREASURER

John McMullen (they/he) is a chemical and evolutionary ecologist working on host-associated microbiomes and symbiosis. John is currently a Postdoc working on the canonical rhizobia-legume mutualism and is studying novel approaches to mark-recapture of microorganisms as well as understudied aspects of this system, such as how bacterial viruses disrupt nutirent flow. They received their BS and MS in Microbiology from the University of Arizona, where they first worked on insect pathogenic nematodes and their bacterial endosymbionts and insect virulence traits. Then, John received their PhD at Cornell University working on the Drosophila gut microbiome and fly nutrition.

 

 

 

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PAST CHAIR

Kathleen Carroll is the Past Chair of the ECE and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Kathleen has two bachelor degrees, one in wildlife ecology and one in marine biology cum laude from the University of Maine, an MS from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Environmental Sciences, and a Ph.D. from Montana State University. They also worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2020-2023. Kathleen has  backgrounds in wildlife conservation, marine biology, behavioral ecology, landscape ecology, statistics, education, and science communication. Kathleen’s understanding across a broad range of disciplines has provided them with a unique perspective on connectivity science and management strategies across a range of taxa. Their current work focuses on large mammal community change in human modified landscapes across the Canadain boreal. Their personal interests include spending time with their three dogs, taking care of their > 80 house plants, reading, and participating in most outdoor recreational activities (including running, climbing, swimming, backpacking, and paddling). They have been a certified PADI scuba instructor since 2011 and teach at a local dive shop in Wisconsin.

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BLOG EDITOR & WEBMASTER

Cait Rottler is a chronic generalist, having done range, reclamation, and plant community ecology, and a little bit of soil science. She currently works for the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center as the New Mexico Climate Adaptation Specialist, helping natural and cultural resource managers to apply research on climate change and climate change adaptation to their specific needs. When she’s not sciencing, she enjoys spending time with her 4 cats, dog, snake, and horse. Initially she joined the ECE Section as a member, and then joined the board as a member-at-large before becoming the blog editor and webmaster. Her favorite thing about ECE is getting to meet all of the incredible members of the section and working with the other officers to engage with folks.

Her favorite ecosystems are sagebrush and the cottonwood forests along the Rio Grande.

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TWITTER AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

Avery Scherer is a marine and aquatic ecologist whose research focuses on species interactions and their influence on ecosystem function. Her academic experiences focused on non-consumptive predator effects and invasive species ecology in south Texas oyster reefs, in lionfish in the Caribbean, and in Hawaiian stream communities. In 2019, she made the leap into non-academic work, accepting a position with the consulting company Cramer Fish Sciences where she studies the role of species interactions in the success of river restoration projects benefiting California salmonids. Avery is a former graduate of the section’s mentorship program and employs her passion for science communication in the name of early career ecologists.

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MENTORSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Kristen Emmett is an ORISE Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the USDA Forest Service at the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center in Asheville, NC. She strives to advance understanding of vegetation, climate, and disturbance interactions. She is passionate about landscape and disturbance ecology, biogeography, climate impact modeling, and citizen science. Her current research investigates the interactions and effects of disturbance, forest management activities, land use patterns and change, and climate variability on forest dynamics and conditions. She integrates remotely sensed and field-based data in statistical and simulation modeling. She brings a diverse career pathways perspective to the ECE board and mentoring program having worked for two federal agencies, two state agencies, two nonprofits, and two universities, and collaborated with many more. Kristen received a BS in Environmental Science and BA in Studio Art from University of Oregon, and PhD in Ecology and Environmental Science from Montana State University.

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DIVERSE CAREER PATHWAYS OFFICER

Currently vacant.


MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

Nate Emery is an ECE section Past-Chair. He is trained as a plant ecologist and is currently the STEM Education Coordinator in the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning at UC Santa Barbara. Before grad school, he took two gap years between undergrad and grad school as a field technician in Yellowstone National Park, secretary for Mylan pharmaceuticals, athletic tutor, line cook in a burrito restaurant, and field ecologist for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. For grad school, he studied coastal fog and wildfires at UC Santa Barbara. He did two postdocs at Michigan State University before shifting to teaching professional development and education research.

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Pacifica Sommers is a Past Chair of the ECE Section. She is currently a Metagenomics Data Scientist at Bayer US – Crop Sciences, where she uses knowledge and tools from microbial ecology to explore bacterial genes for those of interest to agriculture. Her research for her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona focused on effects of animal behavior in driving grass invasions of the Southwestern US, and her postdoctoral research on the processes of microbial community assembly in and around glacier ice in Arctic, Antarctic, and alpine ecosystems. Pacifica is also passionate about teaching and mentoring others in engaging with the scientific process, no matter what their current stage and trajectory in life, having taught at UA Science: Sky School (Arizona), Girls* On Rock (Colorado), and the Juneau Icefield Research Program (Alaska).

 

 

Cari Ficken is a Past Chair of the ECE section. She is currently a Sustainability Project Manager Manager for the New York Power Authority, where she leads programs to increase native biodiversity, natural carbon storage on land, and climate resilience. Prior to this, Cari was Research Assistant Professor at SUNY University at Buffalo and obtained her PhD in Ecology from Duke University. Her research looked at the effects of environmental stress and disturbances on plant communities and ecosystem functioning. Having worked in wetlands, forests, and savannas, Cari is an ecological generalist. Outside of science, she is the partner to an academic environmental scientist and mother to two kiddos.

Molly Reichenborn is a PhD student studying plant community responses following Honey Mesquite management at New Mexico State University. Previously, she received a master’s degree from Wichita State University and worked as a research project manager examining multi-trophic responses to grazing on grasslands replanted through the USDA Conservation Reserve Program. She is broadly interested in the mechanisms underpinning the maintenance, invasion, and successful restoration of ecological communities, and developing data-supported management practices to guide effective land stewardship. She initially became involved with the early career ecologists as a member benefitting from sessions at the annual meeting organized by the section, and through resources compiled on the section website. She is excited to return the favor to members by building diverse resources and a supportive environment as they navigate the early stages of their careers.

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Xiulin Gao is a postdoctoral scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National lab and UC Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in fire ecology from Texas Tech studying fire-mediated tree-grass interaction  in open ecosystems (e.g. woodlands and savannas) in Western U.S. using both lab and field experiments. Her postdoc work focuses on climate-vegetation-fire feedback in California ecosystems using dynamic vegetation demography models incombined with observational studies. She likes hiking, camping, drawing, and playing video games when not doing research.

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Adam Naito is an assistant professor of environmental science  in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences at Northern Michigan University. He teaches courses in Physical Geography, Environmental Science, Biogeography, and Remote Sensing. On the research front, he integrates field work, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, and simulation modeling to improve our understanding of landscape-scale changes in vegetation and its implications for cross-scale interactions and ecosystem services in terrestrial systems. His work has spanned multiple environments, including the montane forests of northern California, Arctic Alaska, the Appalachian Mountains, Southwestern rangelands, and the North Woods of the Upper Midwest. Outside of the classroom, he has employed and mentored over 90 undergraduate students, many of whom are now pursuing successful careers in Earth and Environmental Science-related fields at Federal and state agencies or are furthering their education in graduate school.


SPECIAL COMMITTEES

Centennial Mentoring Program Planning Team (2014-2015)

Sarah Supp, Daniel Scholes, Daniel Stanton, Scott Collins (ESA Leadership), Winslow Hansen (ESA Student Section)

Cheers! A Networking Event Planning Team (2014-2015)

Sarah Supp, Daniel Scholes, Daniel Stanton, Scott Collins, Lauren Sullivan, Benjamin Blonder, Aaron Hogan, Jennie Miller


PAST OFFICERS

2021-2022
Secretary-Treasurer – Molly Reichenborn
Diverse Career Pathways Officer – Tim Fullman

2020-2021
Chair – Cari Ficken

2015-2016
Chair – Sarah Supp

2014-2015 (founding officers)
Chair – Daniel Scholes
Vice Chair – Sarah Supp
Secretary – Daniel Stanton