By Kika Tuff, Annaliese Hettinger, and Bethann Garramon Merkle, current officers of ESA’s SciComm Section. Learn more about them and their roles here. Read more about our section here. Science Communication is an emerging career path with diverse entry points and skillsets. Have you ever read about a science writer, filmmaker, or blogger and wondered, how in the world did they…

July 31, 2017 The Honorable Scott Pruitt Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20460 Dear Administrator Pruitt: As leaders of professional scientific societies with our collective membership of hundreds of thousands of scientists, we are writing in response to reports that you are working to develop a “red team/blue team” process that challenges climate science….

By Jane Lubchenco, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR This article has been republished with permission from the Michigan Journal of Sustainability.  5(1) 2017 DOI: 10.3998/mjs.12333712.0005.106   As an environmental scientist, I think about the questions that you have been discussing today in light of my own experiences in the world of science, engagement, management, policy and public understanding….

In This Issue: Member Input Requested: Special Policy Forum at Portland Annual Meeting We want to hear from you. Send us questions today or by the end of this week that you would like the panelists to answer. Action Alert: Comment on Marine National Monuments and National Marine Sanctuaries by July 26 Climate Science: Pruitt and Perry Endorse “Red Team–Blue…

View the Special Policy Forum Program announcement and speakers on the ESA Annual Meeting website. In the wake of the change in administration in January, the political landscape has become more challenging to navigate for scientists seeking to conduct research and inform policy. The new administration in Washington has proposed significant cuts to federal spending on scientific research and development…

A guest post by Tyler Coverdale (Princeton University), 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient. This year’s six award winners traveled to Washington, D.C. at the end of April for policy experience and training. As a 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient, I traveled to Washington, D.C. in late April with five other students from around the…

2017 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America: Linking biodiversity, material cycling and ecosystem services in a changing world 6–11 August 2017 Ecological researchers care deeply about the health of the systems they study, but do not always know how to put into practice the knowledge they acquire through experimentation. Scientists who have worked at the interface of discovery…

Getting to the roots of Sahara mustard invasion in the American Southwest- Awards from the Forrest Shreve Student Research Fund provide $1,000-2,000 to support ecological research by graduate or undergraduate student members of ESA in the hot deserts of North America (Sonora, Mohave, Chihuahua, and Vizcaino). In 2015, a rural community in southeastern California approached Daniel Winkler and his doctoral…

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) will present its tenth annual Regional Policy Award to U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), representative of Oregon’s 1st congressional district, during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon in August. The award recognizes an elected or appointed local policymaker with an outstanding record of informing policy decisions with ecological science. A member of the…

In This Issue: Trump Administration Review of National Monument Designations Rapidly Continues ESA and AAAS submit comments; congressional response; public support for monuments; legal authority uncertain Waters of the United States, EPA Proposal to Rescind and Recodify EPA revising the rule in a two-step process of repeal and replace Appropriations Markups, Spending Bills Advance Subcommittees approve several spending bills for…

The 2017 Innovation in Sustainability Science Award honors Ian Donohue, Helmut Hillebrand, José M. Montoya, Owen L. Petchey, Stuart L. Pimm, Mike S. Fowler, Kevin Healy, Andrew L. Jackson, Miguel Lurgi, Deirdre McClean, Nessa E. O’Connor, Eoin J. O’Gorman, and Qiang Yang for their review and synthesis of “Navigating the complexity of ecological stability,” published in Ecology Letters in July,…

July 7, 2017   Mr. James Cason Monument Review, MS–1530 U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW. Washington, DC 20240   Dear Mr. Cason, On behalf of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA), we are submitting these comments in response to the opportunity for public comments regarding the…