About the Organized Session Presenters
Kyle Aldinger, West Virginia University
Kyle Aldinger received a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007, a M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources from West Virginia University in 2010, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Forest Resource Science at West Virginia University. At the moment, he is primarily interested in breeding ecology and conservation of disturbance-dependent bird species, which is reflected by his involvement in a four-state project investigating the response of Golden-winged Warblers to various conservation practices implemented on private lands by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Ruth Bennett, Cornell University
Ruth Bennett is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University. She received an M.S. in Applied Ecology from Michigan Technological University for research on the habitat associations of winter Golden-winged Warblers in Honduras.
Michael Burger, Audubon New York
Mike is Audubon New York’s chief scientist, responsible for providing a science-based foundation for the organization’s programs. He oversees several of Audubon New York’s conservation programs, including the Important Bird Areas program, grassland and shrubland bird conservation work with private landowners, and the forest stewardship program. Additionally, Mike helps coordinates the Atlantic Flyway Initiative, which is a framework for increased collaboration and conservation effectiveness across Audubon’s network from Maine to Florida and into the Caribbean and Central and South America. Mike earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and is currently stationed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY.
John Carpenter, NC Wildlife Resources Commission
John obtained a BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a MS degree from Alabama A&M University. He began working with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission in 2010 as its Coastal Plain Landbird Biologist and focuses his efforts on monitoring several at-risk landbird species, including the Bachman’s and Henslow’s sparrow, cerulean warbler, red-cockaded woodpecker, loggerhead shrike, and swallow-tailed kite.
John L. Confer, Ithaca College
As an undergraduate, John was a co-author with Jim Cope on a study of bat distribution in Indiana. His graduate work at Washington State University and at Toronto with Frank Rigler involved Phosphorus circulation in lakes, with continued post-graduate research for over a decade. His interests turned to modeling fish predation on zooplankton and then zooplankton predation on zooplankton. John’s professional interest in birds began with a publication in 1977 on interactions between Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. Thirty seven years later he continues to write on the winged-warbler complex as co-author and lead author in manuscripts in preparation. Most recently, John published an extensive analysis of the demographics and migratory pathways of Northern Saw-whet Owls as revealed by banding. He has published on insect distribution, learned foraging behavior by Downy Woodpeckers, and declining shrubland birds. John and his wife, Karen, have over 300 days of wilderness canoe camping, many years of birding, and extensive involvement in environmental issues while he continues a saw-wet banding station. He takes great pride in the personal and professional achievements of his students from over 40 years at Ithaca College.
Emily Cosbar, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Emily Cosbar is currently a junior in Cornell’s Environmental Science and Sustainability major. She has lived in central New York for most of her life and has been an active member of scouting and outdoor programs throughout high school and into college. She has a strong interest in the social sciences, which she is hoping to utilize in her work with Land Trusts and land conservation as a member of Lab of Ornithology’s Land Trust Initiative
Steve Albert, The Institute for Bird Populations
Steven Albert is the Assistant Director for Cooperative Demographic Bird Banding Programs at the Institute for Bird Populations in Point Reyes Station, California. Steven received his M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Arizona. He has worked for federal, state, tribal, and private organizations across the western U.S. and in Latin America. He started IBP in September of this year, working to promote and expand the MAPS program, and its sister program in Latin America, MOSI.
Chris Elphick, University of Connecticut
Chris Elphick is an associate professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. He has been studying tidal marsh birds in the northeastern US since 2002 and is one of the lead investigators of the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program.
Jane Fitzgerald, American Bird Conservancy
Jane Fitzgerald, an employee of American Bird Conservancy, has served as the Central Hardwoods Joint Venture Coordinator, a regional partnership for bird conservation focused on the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region, since its inception over thirteen years ago. Prior to her work with the Joint Venture, Jane was the Midwest Coordinator for Partners in Flight for over 5 years. Jane has a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Steve Hagenbuch, Audubon Vermont
Steve Hagenbuch is a conservation biologist with Audubon Vermont’s Forest Bird Initiative. In this position he works with private landowners, municipalities, foresters, and land managers to promote management activities that will enhance the habitat value of forestland for priority bird species. Steve holds a master’s degree in conservation biology from Antioch University New England. His graduate research investigated the implications of maple sugarbush management for Neotropical migrant songbirds.
Mitch Hartley, Atlantic Coast Joint Venture / USFWS
Mitch Hartley is Coordinator of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, a partnership for bird habitat conservation along the US East Coast. Mitch has a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology (University of Maine), an M.S. in Wildlife (Louisiana State University) and a B.S. in Natural Resources (Cornell University). Prior to working for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, he spent a decade carrying out avian research in a diverse set of habitats, including Costa Rican rain forests, marine islands, the Canadian prairies, and managed forests in the Northeastern U.S., Canada, and Sweden.
Thomas Hodgman, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Tom has nearly 3 decades of experience as a biologist in northern New England. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from Unity College and an M.S. in Forest and Range Management from Washington State University. Tom has both taught and conducted research in wetlands ecology. Since 1996, he has served as a Wildlife Biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife where he works primarily in the conservation of nongame birds especially those associated with wetland and grassland habitats.
Pamela Hunt, NH Audubon
Pamela Hunt came to NH to attend graduate school at Dartmouth College in 1989, and after completing her Ph.D. in 1995, never managed to leave the state. For the last 14 years, she has worked at NH Audubon, where she currently holds the position of Avian Conservation Biologist. In this capacity she assists the NH Fish and Game Department in implementing bird conservation across the state, including monitoring, research, and species assessment. She also authored a “State of the Birds” report for New Hampshire. Pam has been an active birder for almost forty years, and before coming to NH got her B.S. at Cornell University and a Master's degree at the University of Montana. In addition to working on broad bird conservation issues, she has also studied whip-poor-will biology and coordinated the NH Dragonfly Survey.
Elizabeth Hunter, University of Georgia
Elizabeth Hunter is a PhD student at the University of Georgia in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Her current research focuses on how salt marsh breeding bird populations (particularly Seaside Sparrows and Clapper Rails) will be affected by habitat degradation caused by sea level rise in Georgia. She is using a variety of field methods (including point counts, nest monitoring, and radiotelemetry) and modeling techniques (including Bayesian parameter estimation and individual-based models) to address questions of population viability.
Amy Johnson, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Amy Johnson is a Canadian PhD student from George Mason University currently conducting research through the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Her dissertation focuses on grassland bird abundance and diversity on local working farms during both the breeding season and winter. The use of Virginia's agricultural landscapes by wintering birds is currently poorly understood, but knowing this information in addition to breeding season use is crucial for understanding the long- term stability of these habitats and species. In conjunction with bird data, she is also collecting information on habitat structure, land management practices and landscape features. In studying the seasonal stability of these fields, she hopes to gain a better understanding of species habitat preferences year-round and hopes to use this information to make land management recommendations for declining species.
Matthew Johnson, National Audubon Society
Matt Johnson is the Education Manager at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest. He attended Clemson University from 2003-2009, where he received an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology in 2007 and a Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences in 2009. From 2006-2011, Matt worked as a producer for the Emmy award-winning nature documentary “Expeditions with Patrick McMillan.” In 2011, he took a position as a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson. In 2013, he began his current position with the National Audubon Society, where he’s been for the past year and a half.
David King, USFS Northern Research Station
David received his B.S. from Humboldt State University, and his Ph.D and master’s from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His interests are in applied conservation research, including the effects of forest management, climate change, urbanization, habitat restoration and agroforestry on Neotropical migrants during breeding, migration and stopover, with an emphasis on full life cycle conservation. This multidisciplinary approach combines ecology, ornithology and conservation biology with advanced sampling, statistical and modeling techniques to evaluate the relationship between habitat conditions and stressors with the abundance and fitness of birds and other organisms. Current studies include the effects of habitat restoration on breeding prairie warblers, habitat-specific abundance and survival of wintering migrant songbirds in the Caribbean, Honduras and Belize, identifying area thresholds for breeding shrubland birds and native bees in gaps, migratory movements and stopover ecology of songbirds in the Gulf of Maine, forecasting the effects of climate change on spruce-fir birds, the effects of urbanization on forest birds, and developing market-based approaches for forest conservation in Latin America.
Jeff Larkin, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Jeffery Larkin is a professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the American Bird Conservancy’s Golden-winged Warbler Range-wide Breeding Habitat Coordinator. He received his B.A. in Biology from Ithaca College and his M.S. Forestry and Ph.D Animal Sciences from the University of Kentucky. His research often combines his expertise in forestry, wildlife ecology, and conservation implementation. Most of his research has a strong emphasis on wildlife-habitat relations at multiple spatial scales. Previous and ongoing projects focus on the conservation of golden-winged and cerulean warblers, fishers, Allegheny woodrats, forest dwelling salamanders, black bear, elk, and moose. His research findings are often synthesized into applied information used by natural resource agencies to enhance or develop management guidelines.
Pam Loring, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Pam Loring is a Ph.D. student in the NSF IGERT Offshore Wind Energy Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, researching the movements of terns and oystercatchers in Southern New England using nano-tags and automated radio telemetry stations. She has a MSc. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island, where she used satellite telemetry to track the movements and habitat use of seaducks.
Stuart Mackenzie, Bird Studies Canada
Birds have been an integral part of Stuart’s life since he was knee high to a wader. He has been hooked on all the intricacies of bird life and conservation science since banding/ringing my first bird and beginning to volunteer at bird observatories at the age of 6 and 13, respectively. Stuart received his undergraduate education at the University of Guelph and conducted his graduate research at Western University. For most of his career, Stuart has worked for the Long Point Bird Observatory, Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, and consulting companies. He is currently the Program Manager of the Long Point Bird Observatory and Motus Wildlife Tracking System. He lives, works, and birds at Long Point, Ontario.
Darin McNeil, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Darin received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University where he studied Conservation Biology. He is now beginning the second year of his Master’s work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where his research focuses on the ecology and conservation of birds. Upon the completion of his MS, he intends to pursue a PhD where he can further explore the topics of avian ecology and wildlife conservation.
Brian Olsen, University of Maine
Brian Olsen is an assistant professor at the University of Maine.
Joel Ralston, University of Massachusetts
Joel Ralston is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts and a Northeast Climate Science Center Postdoctoral Fellow. Joel is interested in the ecology and biogeography of spruce-fir forest birds, and is working on a project to identify potential spruce-fir refugia where birds may persist despite ongoing climate change.
Jessica Rhodes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Jessica Rhodes earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science in 2004 and Master of Geographic Information Systems in 2013, both from the Pennsylvania State University. Jessica is currently a Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Virginia Field Office (VAFO) in Gloucester, Virginia. She began this position in 2005 and the primary duties include developing habitat restoration planning and implementation projects, performing GIS modelling and analysis, providing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) assistance to other staff biologists, and providing assistance with and coordination of information technology resources for VAFO. Prior to coming to Virginia, Jessica began her career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while still a student at Pennsylvania State University as a Student Trainee in the Conservation Planning Assistance Program of the Pennsylvania Field Office in State College, Pennsylvania. She worked as a student trainee for two years until being converted to a full time employee upon obtaining her bachelor degree.
Ron Rohrbaugh, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ron Rohrbaugh is Assistant Director of the Conservation Science Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and an active, professional conservation biologist. His work focuses on developing conservation and recovery plans for landbirds, such as Golden-winged Warbler and Wood Thrush; creating conservation strategies and tools for use on public and private lands, especially those owned or managed by land trusts; studying avian migration ecology to guide placement of new wind energy facilities and mitigate collision mortality at existing facilities; and teaching Cornell undergraduate students in laboratory and field research techniques. As an applied conservation biologist, Ron has special interest in translating science from applied and basic research into conservation strategies aimed at habitat enhancement, mitigation, and population recovery. Ron completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at The Pennsylvania State University and has been on the staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology since 1996. He has published more than 100 professional papers, popular articles, conservation plans, and Best Management Practice guides.
Curtis Smalling, National Audubon Society
Smalling is the Director of Land Bird Conservation for Audubon North Carolina. He is a member of several working groups including the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker working group (a consortia of USFWS, National Forest Service, National Park Service, and academic partners), the Cerulean Warbler Technical Working Group, and the International Golden-winged Warbler working group, and the recently started Wood Thrush Conservation Alliance. He work with Golden-winged Warblers in western North Carolina and beyond, including Nicaragua. His work in Nicaragua has also included capacity building for local partners, Wood Thrush, Cerulean and Golden-winged Warbler research, and supporting training and planning efforts for the countries IBA network and creation of eBird access for the country.
Nellie Tsipoura, New Jersey Audubon
Nellie Tsipoura earned a M.S. in Zoology from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University and is current a Senior Research Scientist and the Director of citizen science for New Jersey Audubon. She has over 25 years of experience working on bird ecology, behavior, and population biology ecophysiology and ecotoxicology on a variety of bird species. She is the principal investigator on DoD Legacy funded research on grassland birds at military sites. She also oversees and coordinates a number of studies that employ volunteers throughout NJ to monitor bird populations. These include surveys of birds at grassland sites in New Jersey, in collaboration with state, regional and federal partners to assess effectiveness of land management in supporting bird populations. In research she tries to bridge measures of bird ecology and behavior with measures of habitat loss, pollution, and other human disturbances and their potential effects.
Tom Will, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Tom Will works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Midwest Regional landbird biologist and liaison to Partners in Flight. He serves on the PIF Science and Steering committees and as chair of the Tri-initiative Science Team (TriST). He resides in Saint Paul, MN
Mark Woodrey, Mississippi State University
Dr. Mark Woodrey is a Research Ecologist at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center. In addition to his current research program focusing on marsh birds, in particular along the Gulf of Mexico, he has studied the stopover ecology of intercontinental landbird migrants and winter grassland bird dynamics in pine savanna habitats. The main purpose underlying his research efforts is to better understand applied aspects of coastal avian conservation biology.
Kyle Aldinger received a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007, a M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources from West Virginia University in 2010, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Forest Resource Science at West Virginia University. At the moment, he is primarily interested in breeding ecology and conservation of disturbance-dependent bird species, which is reflected by his involvement in a four-state project investigating the response of Golden-winged Warblers to various conservation practices implemented on private lands by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Ruth Bennett, Cornell University
Ruth Bennett is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University. She received an M.S. in Applied Ecology from Michigan Technological University for research on the habitat associations of winter Golden-winged Warblers in Honduras.
Michael Burger, Audubon New York
Mike is Audubon New York’s chief scientist, responsible for providing a science-based foundation for the organization’s programs. He oversees several of Audubon New York’s conservation programs, including the Important Bird Areas program, grassland and shrubland bird conservation work with private landowners, and the forest stewardship program. Additionally, Mike helps coordinates the Atlantic Flyway Initiative, which is a framework for increased collaboration and conservation effectiveness across Audubon’s network from Maine to Florida and into the Caribbean and Central and South America. Mike earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and is currently stationed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY.
John Carpenter, NC Wildlife Resources Commission
John obtained a BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a MS degree from Alabama A&M University. He began working with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission in 2010 as its Coastal Plain Landbird Biologist and focuses his efforts on monitoring several at-risk landbird species, including the Bachman’s and Henslow’s sparrow, cerulean warbler, red-cockaded woodpecker, loggerhead shrike, and swallow-tailed kite.
John L. Confer, Ithaca College
As an undergraduate, John was a co-author with Jim Cope on a study of bat distribution in Indiana. His graduate work at Washington State University and at Toronto with Frank Rigler involved Phosphorus circulation in lakes, with continued post-graduate research for over a decade. His interests turned to modeling fish predation on zooplankton and then zooplankton predation on zooplankton. John’s professional interest in birds began with a publication in 1977 on interactions between Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. Thirty seven years later he continues to write on the winged-warbler complex as co-author and lead author in manuscripts in preparation. Most recently, John published an extensive analysis of the demographics and migratory pathways of Northern Saw-whet Owls as revealed by banding. He has published on insect distribution, learned foraging behavior by Downy Woodpeckers, and declining shrubland birds. John and his wife, Karen, have over 300 days of wilderness canoe camping, many years of birding, and extensive involvement in environmental issues while he continues a saw-wet banding station. He takes great pride in the personal and professional achievements of his students from over 40 years at Ithaca College.
Emily Cosbar, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Emily Cosbar is currently a junior in Cornell’s Environmental Science and Sustainability major. She has lived in central New York for most of her life and has been an active member of scouting and outdoor programs throughout high school and into college. She has a strong interest in the social sciences, which she is hoping to utilize in her work with Land Trusts and land conservation as a member of Lab of Ornithology’s Land Trust Initiative
Steve Albert, The Institute for Bird Populations
Steven Albert is the Assistant Director for Cooperative Demographic Bird Banding Programs at the Institute for Bird Populations in Point Reyes Station, California. Steven received his M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Arizona. He has worked for federal, state, tribal, and private organizations across the western U.S. and in Latin America. He started IBP in September of this year, working to promote and expand the MAPS program, and its sister program in Latin America, MOSI.
Chris Elphick, University of Connecticut
Chris Elphick is an associate professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. He has been studying tidal marsh birds in the northeastern US since 2002 and is one of the lead investigators of the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program.
Jane Fitzgerald, American Bird Conservancy
Jane Fitzgerald, an employee of American Bird Conservancy, has served as the Central Hardwoods Joint Venture Coordinator, a regional partnership for bird conservation focused on the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region, since its inception over thirteen years ago. Prior to her work with the Joint Venture, Jane was the Midwest Coordinator for Partners in Flight for over 5 years. Jane has a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Steve Hagenbuch, Audubon Vermont
Steve Hagenbuch is a conservation biologist with Audubon Vermont’s Forest Bird Initiative. In this position he works with private landowners, municipalities, foresters, and land managers to promote management activities that will enhance the habitat value of forestland for priority bird species. Steve holds a master’s degree in conservation biology from Antioch University New England. His graduate research investigated the implications of maple sugarbush management for Neotropical migrant songbirds.
Mitch Hartley, Atlantic Coast Joint Venture / USFWS
Mitch Hartley is Coordinator of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, a partnership for bird habitat conservation along the US East Coast. Mitch has a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology (University of Maine), an M.S. in Wildlife (Louisiana State University) and a B.S. in Natural Resources (Cornell University). Prior to working for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, he spent a decade carrying out avian research in a diverse set of habitats, including Costa Rican rain forests, marine islands, the Canadian prairies, and managed forests in the Northeastern U.S., Canada, and Sweden.
Thomas Hodgman, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Tom has nearly 3 decades of experience as a biologist in northern New England. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from Unity College and an M.S. in Forest and Range Management from Washington State University. Tom has both taught and conducted research in wetlands ecology. Since 1996, he has served as a Wildlife Biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife where he works primarily in the conservation of nongame birds especially those associated with wetland and grassland habitats.
Pamela Hunt, NH Audubon
Pamela Hunt came to NH to attend graduate school at Dartmouth College in 1989, and after completing her Ph.D. in 1995, never managed to leave the state. For the last 14 years, she has worked at NH Audubon, where she currently holds the position of Avian Conservation Biologist. In this capacity she assists the NH Fish and Game Department in implementing bird conservation across the state, including monitoring, research, and species assessment. She also authored a “State of the Birds” report for New Hampshire. Pam has been an active birder for almost forty years, and before coming to NH got her B.S. at Cornell University and a Master's degree at the University of Montana. In addition to working on broad bird conservation issues, she has also studied whip-poor-will biology and coordinated the NH Dragonfly Survey.
Elizabeth Hunter, University of Georgia
Elizabeth Hunter is a PhD student at the University of Georgia in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Her current research focuses on how salt marsh breeding bird populations (particularly Seaside Sparrows and Clapper Rails) will be affected by habitat degradation caused by sea level rise in Georgia. She is using a variety of field methods (including point counts, nest monitoring, and radiotelemetry) and modeling techniques (including Bayesian parameter estimation and individual-based models) to address questions of population viability.
Amy Johnson, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Amy Johnson is a Canadian PhD student from George Mason University currently conducting research through the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Her dissertation focuses on grassland bird abundance and diversity on local working farms during both the breeding season and winter. The use of Virginia's agricultural landscapes by wintering birds is currently poorly understood, but knowing this information in addition to breeding season use is crucial for understanding the long- term stability of these habitats and species. In conjunction with bird data, she is also collecting information on habitat structure, land management practices and landscape features. In studying the seasonal stability of these fields, she hopes to gain a better understanding of species habitat preferences year-round and hopes to use this information to make land management recommendations for declining species.
Matthew Johnson, National Audubon Society
Matt Johnson is the Education Manager at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest. He attended Clemson University from 2003-2009, where he received an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology in 2007 and a Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences in 2009. From 2006-2011, Matt worked as a producer for the Emmy award-winning nature documentary “Expeditions with Patrick McMillan.” In 2011, he took a position as a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson. In 2013, he began his current position with the National Audubon Society, where he’s been for the past year and a half.
David King, USFS Northern Research Station
David received his B.S. from Humboldt State University, and his Ph.D and master’s from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His interests are in applied conservation research, including the effects of forest management, climate change, urbanization, habitat restoration and agroforestry on Neotropical migrants during breeding, migration and stopover, with an emphasis on full life cycle conservation. This multidisciplinary approach combines ecology, ornithology and conservation biology with advanced sampling, statistical and modeling techniques to evaluate the relationship between habitat conditions and stressors with the abundance and fitness of birds and other organisms. Current studies include the effects of habitat restoration on breeding prairie warblers, habitat-specific abundance and survival of wintering migrant songbirds in the Caribbean, Honduras and Belize, identifying area thresholds for breeding shrubland birds and native bees in gaps, migratory movements and stopover ecology of songbirds in the Gulf of Maine, forecasting the effects of climate change on spruce-fir birds, the effects of urbanization on forest birds, and developing market-based approaches for forest conservation in Latin America.
Jeff Larkin, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Jeffery Larkin is a professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the American Bird Conservancy’s Golden-winged Warbler Range-wide Breeding Habitat Coordinator. He received his B.A. in Biology from Ithaca College and his M.S. Forestry and Ph.D Animal Sciences from the University of Kentucky. His research often combines his expertise in forestry, wildlife ecology, and conservation implementation. Most of his research has a strong emphasis on wildlife-habitat relations at multiple spatial scales. Previous and ongoing projects focus on the conservation of golden-winged and cerulean warblers, fishers, Allegheny woodrats, forest dwelling salamanders, black bear, elk, and moose. His research findings are often synthesized into applied information used by natural resource agencies to enhance or develop management guidelines.
Pam Loring, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Pam Loring is a Ph.D. student in the NSF IGERT Offshore Wind Energy Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, researching the movements of terns and oystercatchers in Southern New England using nano-tags and automated radio telemetry stations. She has a MSc. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island, where she used satellite telemetry to track the movements and habitat use of seaducks.
Stuart Mackenzie, Bird Studies Canada
Birds have been an integral part of Stuart’s life since he was knee high to a wader. He has been hooked on all the intricacies of bird life and conservation science since banding/ringing my first bird and beginning to volunteer at bird observatories at the age of 6 and 13, respectively. Stuart received his undergraduate education at the University of Guelph and conducted his graduate research at Western University. For most of his career, Stuart has worked for the Long Point Bird Observatory, Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, and consulting companies. He is currently the Program Manager of the Long Point Bird Observatory and Motus Wildlife Tracking System. He lives, works, and birds at Long Point, Ontario.
Darin McNeil, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Darin received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University where he studied Conservation Biology. He is now beginning the second year of his Master’s work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where his research focuses on the ecology and conservation of birds. Upon the completion of his MS, he intends to pursue a PhD where he can further explore the topics of avian ecology and wildlife conservation.
Brian Olsen, University of Maine
Brian Olsen is an assistant professor at the University of Maine.
Joel Ralston, University of Massachusetts
Joel Ralston is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts and a Northeast Climate Science Center Postdoctoral Fellow. Joel is interested in the ecology and biogeography of spruce-fir forest birds, and is working on a project to identify potential spruce-fir refugia where birds may persist despite ongoing climate change.
Jessica Rhodes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Jessica Rhodes earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science in 2004 and Master of Geographic Information Systems in 2013, both from the Pennsylvania State University. Jessica is currently a Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Virginia Field Office (VAFO) in Gloucester, Virginia. She began this position in 2005 and the primary duties include developing habitat restoration planning and implementation projects, performing GIS modelling and analysis, providing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) assistance to other staff biologists, and providing assistance with and coordination of information technology resources for VAFO. Prior to coming to Virginia, Jessica began her career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while still a student at Pennsylvania State University as a Student Trainee in the Conservation Planning Assistance Program of the Pennsylvania Field Office in State College, Pennsylvania. She worked as a student trainee for two years until being converted to a full time employee upon obtaining her bachelor degree.
Ron Rohrbaugh, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ron Rohrbaugh is Assistant Director of the Conservation Science Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and an active, professional conservation biologist. His work focuses on developing conservation and recovery plans for landbirds, such as Golden-winged Warbler and Wood Thrush; creating conservation strategies and tools for use on public and private lands, especially those owned or managed by land trusts; studying avian migration ecology to guide placement of new wind energy facilities and mitigate collision mortality at existing facilities; and teaching Cornell undergraduate students in laboratory and field research techniques. As an applied conservation biologist, Ron has special interest in translating science from applied and basic research into conservation strategies aimed at habitat enhancement, mitigation, and population recovery. Ron completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at The Pennsylvania State University and has been on the staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology since 1996. He has published more than 100 professional papers, popular articles, conservation plans, and Best Management Practice guides.
Curtis Smalling, National Audubon Society
Smalling is the Director of Land Bird Conservation for Audubon North Carolina. He is a member of several working groups including the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker working group (a consortia of USFWS, National Forest Service, National Park Service, and academic partners), the Cerulean Warbler Technical Working Group, and the International Golden-winged Warbler working group, and the recently started Wood Thrush Conservation Alliance. He work with Golden-winged Warblers in western North Carolina and beyond, including Nicaragua. His work in Nicaragua has also included capacity building for local partners, Wood Thrush, Cerulean and Golden-winged Warbler research, and supporting training and planning efforts for the countries IBA network and creation of eBird access for the country.
Nellie Tsipoura, New Jersey Audubon
Nellie Tsipoura earned a M.S. in Zoology from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Rutgers University and is current a Senior Research Scientist and the Director of citizen science for New Jersey Audubon. She has over 25 years of experience working on bird ecology, behavior, and population biology ecophysiology and ecotoxicology on a variety of bird species. She is the principal investigator on DoD Legacy funded research on grassland birds at military sites. She also oversees and coordinates a number of studies that employ volunteers throughout NJ to monitor bird populations. These include surveys of birds at grassland sites in New Jersey, in collaboration with state, regional and federal partners to assess effectiveness of land management in supporting bird populations. In research she tries to bridge measures of bird ecology and behavior with measures of habitat loss, pollution, and other human disturbances and their potential effects.
Tom Will, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Tom Will works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Midwest Regional landbird biologist and liaison to Partners in Flight. He serves on the PIF Science and Steering committees and as chair of the Tri-initiative Science Team (TriST). He resides in Saint Paul, MN
Mark Woodrey, Mississippi State University
Dr. Mark Woodrey is a Research Ecologist at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center. In addition to his current research program focusing on marsh birds, in particular along the Gulf of Mexico, he has studied the stopover ecology of intercontinental landbird migrants and winter grassland bird dynamics in pine savanna habitats. The main purpose underlying his research efforts is to better understand applied aspects of coastal avian conservation biology.
