{"id":91,"date":"2015-06-22T19:34:10","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T19:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/?page_id=91"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:22:35","slug":"officers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/about\/officers\/","title":{"rendered":"Officers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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CHAIR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cait Rottler <\/b>(she\/hers)\u00a0is a chronic generalist, having done range, reclamation, and plant community ecology, and some soil science. She currently works for WEST, Inc., a statistical and environmental consulting firm, working primarily on restoration ecology. When she\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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VICE CHAIR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John McMullen <\/b>(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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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SECRETARY-TREASURER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Savannah Gupton<\/strong> \u00a0(she\/her) \u00a0is the Program Manager for the Yale Applied Synthesis Program. She holds a master\u2019s degree in Conservation Biology from Miami University and a BS in Zoology from North Carolina State University. Her professional background is in applied research in climate change mitigation projects, specifically in air pollution, greenhouse gas and criteria pollutants avoidance projects, environmental public health, and environmental consulting for state and federal agencies. She specializes in grant program management, project management, international projects, and ecological conservation. Her interests include biodiversity, conservation, sustainable land management, animal behavior, carbon markets, and science communication. You can connect with Savannah on her\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PAST CHAIR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0Alyson East <\/b>is a Landscape Ecologist and her work revolves around remote sensing applications of landscape ecology, biodiversity, and disturbance. She holds a Bachelor\u2019s Degree from the University of Maine in Ecology and Environmental Science and a Master\u2019s Degree from Montana State University. After recently finishing a Post-Masters ORISE Research Fellow working collaboratively with the US Forest Services\u2019 Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, and Oak Ridge National Lab, she is currently starting a PhD program at the University of Maine. Outside of work, she is an avid recreationalist and can often be found climbing, hiking, biking, paddle boarding, or foraging with her dog and husband.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WEBMASTER AND BLOG EDITOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TWITTER AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blanka\u00a0Herrmann<\/strong> is an early career (emphasis on early!) ecologist with a B.S. in Nature Conservation from the University of Sopron. Born in Washington state and raised in Budapest, Hungary, she recently moved back to the States to start her scientific career in the PNW.\u00a0Blanka\u00a0loves to learn about any and all taxa and habitats, be that anything from solitary bees to saline lakes, but is mostly interested in rewilding urban environments. When not out on an adventure of some kind, you can find her working on a creative project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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MENTORSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kristen Emmett<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristen Emmett is a Forest Health Scientist in the Forest Resilience Division at the Washington Department of Natural Resources. She conducts technical analysis and monitoring for Washington\u2019s forest to provide managers with tools to increase the pace and scale of restoration to improve forest resilience to wildfire and climate change. She also conducts research on the effects of climate change on forest dynamics. She brings a diverse career pathways perspective to the ECE board and mentoring program having worked for three state agencies, two federal agencies,\u00a0two 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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DIVERSE CAREER PATHWAYS OFFICER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MEMBERS-AT-LARGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/b>Nate Emery<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Pacifica Sommers<\/b> is a Past Chair of the ECE Section. She is currently a Metagenomics Data Scientist at Bayer US \u2013 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).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Kathleen Carroll<\/b>\u00a0 is the Past Chair of the ECE and an Assitant Professor of Applied Quantitative Ecology at the University of Rhode Island. 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 and the University of Victoria 2023-2024. Kathleen has\u00a0 backgrounds in wildlife conservation, marine biology, behavioral ecology, landscape ecology, statistics, education, and science communication. Kathleen\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Molly Reichenborn <\/b>is a PhD candidate studying plant community responses to shrub management at New Mexico State University. Previously, she received a master\u2019s degree from Wichita State University and worked as a research project manager examining multi-trophic responses to cattle 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Xiulin Gao<\/b> 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\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Avery Scherer<\/b>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\u2019s mentorship program and employs her passion for science communication in the name of early career ecologists.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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SPECIAL COMMITTEES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centennial Mentoring Program Planning Team (2014-2015)
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Sarah Supp, Daniel Scholes, Daniel Stanton, Scott Collins (ESA Leadership), Winslow Hansen (ESA Student Section)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers! A Networking Event Planning Team (2014-2015)
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Sarah Supp, Daniel Scholes, Daniel Stanton, Scott Collins, Lauren Sullivan, Benjamin Blonder, Aaron Hogan, Jennie Miller<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PAST OFFICERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021-2022
<\/span>Secretary-Treasurer \u2013 Molly Reichenborn
Diverse Career Pathways Officer \u2013 Tim Fullman
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2020-2021
<\/em><\/span>Chair \u2013 Cari Ficken
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2015-2016<\/em><\/span>
Chair \u2013 Sarah Supp<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014-2015 (founding officers)<\/em><\/span>
Chair \u2013 Daniel Scholes
Vice Chair \u2013 Sarah Supp
Secretary \u2013 Daniel Stanton<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAIR Cait Rottler (she\/hers)\u00a0is a chronic generalist, having done range, reclamation, and plant community ecology, and some soil science. She currently works for WEST, Inc., a statistical and environmental consulting firm, working primarily on restoration ecology. When she\u2019s not sciencing, she enjoys spending time with her 4 cats, dog, snake, and horse. Initially she joined the ECE Section as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":79,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-91","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1664,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions\/1664"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}