{"id":3835,"date":"2025-02-07T02:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T02:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/?page_id=3835"},"modified":"2025-05-02T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T20:13:08","slug":"spring-2025-division-of-ecology-and-evolution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/?page_id=3835","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2025: Division of Ecology and Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian Cox<\/em><\/strong>, Chair (<\/em>chair.dee@sicb.org<\/em><\/a>); Tonia Schwartz<\/strong>, Past Chair (<\/em>past-chair.dee@sicb.org<\/em><\/a>); Kristi Montooth<\/strong>, Program Officer (<\/em>dpo.dee@sicb.org<\/em><\/a>); Ariel Kahrl<\/em><\/strong>, Secretary (<\/em>secretary.dee@sicb.org<\/em><\/a>); Morgan Muell (<\/strong><\/em>mrm0161@auburn.edu<\/em><\/a>) <\/em><\/strong>SPDAC representative.<\/em><\/p>\n

Message from the Chair <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hello from your new DEE Chair! My name is Christian Cox, and I am an integrative evolutionary biologist at Florida International University. Ariel Kahrl (Hamilton College) is also a new DEE officer, taking over as the Secretary of the Division. Kristi Montooth (University of Nebraska Lincoln) is continuing as Program Director, and Morgan Muell (Auburn University) is continuing as the Student and Post-doc Representative.<\/p>\n

\u00a0First, a big thank you to past Chair Tonia Schwarz, who has very capably run DEE for the past two years, as well as past Secretary Ryan Earley. We really appreciate all of the hard work that they have put into making DEE a strong division.<\/p>\n

Second, we are very grateful to all who participated in DEE activities at the annual SICB meeting in Atlanta, whether serving as judge for the Huey Best Student Presentation competition, or as a mentor or mentee for the SICB mentoring program, or by attending the SICB member meeting or joint social. Congratulations to the winner of the Huey Best Student Oral Presentation Isabella Burger, and the runner up Bridger Creel. Congratulations are also due to the winner of the Huey Best Student Poster Presentation Rachel Bockrath, and the runner up Emelia Kusi. Check out the profiles of the winners and runners up below. Our Meeting of the Minds mentorship program also had the most participants ever and was a great success. Our hope is that we can continue this great work at the next annual meeting.<\/p>\n

Finally, I want to end by encouraging you to participate in divisional activities throughout the year as well as at our next annual meeting. We have an excellent slate of candidates for Chair-Elect and Secretary-Elect, so please read their candidate statements in this newsletter and most of all, vote! Please also consider organizing a symposium, as DEE has a history of hosting diverse and exciting symposia. I also hope you keep an eye on upcoming communications from the division and the society, and participate in DEE events such as Meeting of the Minds and the Member Meeting at the next annual meeting. Thanks so much for being a part of DEE and SICB.<\/p>\n

Message from the Program Officer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Annual meeting and symposium updates<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our division was well engaged in the SICB Annual meeting in Atlanta, with nearly 600 presentations in the areas of ecology and evolution (28% of the 2100 submitted abstracts), seven symposia co-sponsored by DEE, a fantastic breakfast social that brought together scientists across seven divisions, and a fun Meetings of the Mind connecting researchers across all career stages. We held our annual Members\u2019 Meeting and the minutes can be found on our divisional website<\/a><\/strong>. We encourage you to attend the Members’ Meeting to become more involved in shaping the future of the society and its activities. Please attend this important meeting at SICB 2026 in Portland.<\/p>\n

Speaking of SICB 2026, DEE will be co-sponsponsoring six symposia in Portland that span diverse topics including phenotypic integration, open-source monitoring tools, integrative frameworks for the evolution of sex, rapid adaptation of behavior, and evolutionary consequences of metamorphosis, along with improving understanding of disabled and neurodivergent perception and identity in our community.<\/p>\n

Interested in organizing a symposium for 2027? <\/strong>Now is the perfect time to reach out to DPO Kristi Montooth to discuss your ideas for an August\/September 2025 submission! Early career researchers \u2013 your ideas and visions are the future of SICB and Kristi would be delighted to assist you as you develop your symposium proposal. Detailed info on the process can be found here<\/a><\/strong>. Kristi can help you work through your ideas, speaker list, funding plan, and additional activities (companion sessions, lunches, etc.) for your symposium.<\/p>\n

As always, please contact your DEE DPO, Chair, or SPDAC Representative with any suggestions or requests for next year\u2019s SICB and associated DEE events in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

Raymond B. Huey Best Student Presentation Awards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We want to congratulate all the finalists who presented their research at the Raymond B. Huey Awards for the DEE Best Student Presentations!<\/p>\n

\"Isabella
Isabella Burger, winner of the Raymond B. Huey Best Student Oral Presentation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best Oral Presentation Winner: Isabella Burger<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isabella is a third year PhD student working with Dr. Eric Riddell at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She studies how abiotic and biotic factors influence species\u2019 ranges in woodland salamanders. Specifically, she uses species distribution models that incorporate mechanistic and correlative drivers of species\u2019 responses to environmental change to determine how species\u2019 ranges have shifted and may shift through space and time. During this year\u2019s DEE session, she presented results from a new method of calculating climate change vulnerability that incorporates the relationship between exposure, sensitivity, and response when estimating vulnerability.<\/p>\n

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\"Rachel
Rachel Bockrath, winner of the Raymond B. Huey Best Poster Presentation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best Poster Presentation Winner: Rachel Bockrath<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rachel is a PhD student at North Dakota State University under Dr. Britt Heidinger. She works with house sparrows (Passer domesticus<\/em>) investigating how changes in the environment, particularly temperature, impact their morphology and behavior. For this project, she used daily temperature readings and morphological measurements from a population of house sparrows collected over the last 30 years to investigate the link between climate change, body size, and reproductive success. She discovered that mass decreased over time, though not in direct response to developmental temperature. However, tarsus (leg) length increased with higher developmental temperatures, though it was unchanged over time. Preliminary analyses also found that body size was not predictive of reproductive success. This leaves them uncertain about the adaptive interpretation of size changes under climate change, with more analyses planned. Additionally, they are conducting nest temperature manipulation experiments to further investigate the role of temperature in shaping body size and behavior.<\/p>\n

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\"Bridger
Bridger Creel, runner-up for the Best Oral Presentation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best Oral Presentation Runner-up:\u00a0 Bridger Creel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridger Creel is a 4th year PhD candidate at the University of Montana studying the effects of mine-waste contamination on riparian songbirds. They work with Drs. Creagh Breuner and Ben Colman in collaboration with the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab to investigate how songbird diet, physiology and reproductive success change in sites impaired by mining contamination and how metals move through the riparian food web. Their work combines the fields of ecophysiology, food web ecology and ecotoxicology to understand the complex interplay of prey depletion and metal exposure affecting songbirds in mining-impaired habitats. Bridger\u2019s work is fundamentally motivated by a passion for avian conservation.<\/p>\n

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\"Emelia
Emelia Kusi, runner-up of the Best Poster Presentation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best Poster Presentation Runner-up: Emelia Kusi<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emelia Obodum Kusi is a Ph.D. candidate in the Adler Lab at UMass Amherst. Her research explores how various plant species and traits influence pathogen transmission rates and examines the impacts of climate and land use on bumblebee species rarity. Emelia is deeply committed to a collaborative approach in tackling the pressing issue of pollinator decline, recognizing its critical societal implications for global food security.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chair-Elect Nominees<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Please vote here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Charles \u201cMatt\u201d Watson<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"Charles
Charles Watson, candidate for DEE Chair-Elect.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Current position<\/strong>: Associate Professor of Biology, Texas A&M University \u2013 San Antonio
\nEducation<\/strong>: PhD (2008), The University of Texas at Arlington,\u00a0 MS (2004), The University of Texas at Arlington, BS (1998) Stephen F. Austin State University.
\nProfessional experience<\/strong>: Texas A&M University \u2013 San Antonio, Associate Professor (2021-Present); Midwestern State University, Assistant Professor (2013-2016) Associate Professor (2016-2021); McNeese State University, Assistant Professor (2011-2013); Associate Editor: Amphibia\/Reptilia (2022-present), The Southwestern Naturalist (2012-present)
\nSICB activities<\/strong>: I have been attending, presenting, and bringing students to SICB for well over a decade. Over those years, I routinely served as a session chair and student award judge and, most recently, as a mentor for Meeting of the Minds.
\nOther memberships<\/strong>: American Society of Naturalists, Horned Lizard Conservation Society, Society for the Study of Evolution, Southwestern Association of Naturalists, Texas Herpetological Society
\nResearch interests<\/strong>: My laboratory investigates the evolution and adaptive advantage of complex traits, such as decoy coloration in lizards and viviparity among squamates. Additionally, we examine the thermal physiology and ecology of ectotherms to better understand and predict how they may react to rapidly changing thermal landscapes brought about by global climate change and\/or urbanization.\u00a0 Lizards tend to be our model of choice, but we often venture into the world of plants and arthropods.
\nGoals statement<\/strong>: SICB is the most inviting scientific meeting out there. Over the years, more than thirty students from my lab have attended the annual meeting, with many citing it as a pivotal experience in their academic development. As a first-generation college student, I value the inclusive environment of SICB for myself and my students. In my service as Faculty Senate President and IACUC Chair at TAMUSA, I pride myself in my ability to run efficient meetings and create cross-administrative collaboration. I am dedicated to both student and faculty mentorship, and I am routinely involved in student research competitions from middle school science fairs to college-level symposia. My primary goal as chair-elect and, ultimately, chair of DEE would be to use the skills obtained from years of service to my university, laboratory, SICB, and the broader community of aspiring scientists to efficiently organize and execute the processes that will enhance and expand those aspects of the division that make it so inviting and transformative for students and faculty alike.<\/p>\n

Sarah Diamond<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"Sarah
Sarah Diamond, candidate for DEE Chair-Elect.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Current position: <\/strong>Associate Professor of Biology, Case Western Reserve University
\nEducation:<\/strong> BS Bucknell University (2005); PhD University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2010)
\nProfessional experience:<\/strong> Post-doctoral researcher at North Carolina State University (2010-2013)
\nSICB activities:<\/strong> DEE Program Officer (2019 [elect] – 2022); Huey Award selection committee
\nOther memberships<\/strong>: American Society of Naturalists, Society for the Study of Evolution
\nResearch interests<\/strong>: I typically work with arthropods, as they are amenable to the questions I aim to answer, but that is by no means a firm line. I primarily view the world through the lens of a population biologist, but I also have interests in scaling down to the level of the individual organism and scaling up to entire communities and ecosystems. Because of the integrative nature of this approach, I wear different research hats including as an evolutionary ecologist, urban ecologist, physiological ecologist, and macroecologist. Some ongoing projects in my lab include explorations of the repeatability and predictability of evolutionary responses to cities, and understanding the mechanisms that govern contemporary range shift responses.
\nGoals statement<\/strong>: Now more than ever, it is vital to support our early career researchers and researchers from underrepresented groups. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology at large and the Division of Ecology and Evolution have already established a long-running tradition of providing a platform for rigorous scientific discussion in a welcoming, supportive environment. I aim to be a steward and caretaker of that tradition for our long-time SICB and DEE members and a conduit for engaging folks new to the Society and Division. To me, this means continuing to support the vibrant community of scientists that attend the Meeting of the Minds event, providing critical networking between early-career and established researchers in a low-key setting. It also means continuing to broaden and diversify our Huey Award nominee pool and contributors to our DEE-sponsored symposia. How can we achieve these goals? Two major considerations are awareness and funding. Through word-of-mouth (our biggest advocates are our DEE members!), the spring and fall SICB\/DEE newsletters, and social media, we can expand awareness of the society and division activities. Working with the Broadening Participation Committee will help ensure we are effectively reaching out to our diverse research community. Making concerted efforts to connect folks with potential funding sources (within SICB, e.g. Mangum and Broadening Participation Awards, and beyond) enables meeting attendance from early career researchers and researchers from underrepresented groups.<\/p>\n

Secretary-Elect Nominees<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dara Orbach<\/h4>\n
\"Dara
Dara Orbach, DEE candidate for DEE Secretary-Elect.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Current Position<\/strong>: Assistant Professor, Texas A&amp;M University-Corpus Christi
\nEducation<\/strong>: B.S., University of British Columbia (2006); B.A., University of British Columbia (2006); M.S., University of Western Ontario (2009); Ph.D., Texas A&M; University at Galveston (2016)
\nProfessional Experience:<\/strong> Assistant Professor, Texas A&amp;M University- Corpus Christi (2019-present); Visiting Assistant Professor, Mount Holyoke College (2016-2018); Postdoctoral Fellow, Dalhousie University (2016-2018)
\nSICB Activities<\/strong>: member (2016-present), education committee member (2023-present; BEARR subcommittee 2024-present); chair nomination committee (DAB, 2024); faculty mentor (DEE, 2024, 2025; DAB, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025; DVM, 2025; Broadening participation, 2023), judge for student presentation competitions (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), session chair (2020, 2021, 2025), workshop facilitator (TAL-X, 2023), author and reviewer for Integrative and Comparative Biology, teaching circle participant (2020- 2021), student volunteer (2016)
\nOther Memberships<\/strong>: Animal Behavior Society; European Cetacean Society; Society for Marine Mammalogy; Texas Society of Mammalogists Research Interests: anthropogenic impacts; behavioral ecology; environmental contaminants; genital evolution; flipped classroom pedagogies; marine mammals; mating strategies; morphometrics; stress physiology
\nStatement of Goals<\/strong>: I discovered SICB at the end of my PhD when there was a symposium about genital evolution; I had finally found a conference where my niche research expertise fit in seamlessly. Many SICB members have similarly been enthralled by the inclusive and integrative foundational principles of our society that celebrates diversity in research and membership. In our present political landscape where DEI, ecology, and evolution values are under scrutiny, training in effective communication and advocacy skills are essential and will be one of my focal points on the DEE board. The secretary position requires devotion, attention to detail, and outstanding organizational skills; I believe I excel at these attributes having just completed my term as president and helped organize a conference for a different society. Another goal is to increase networking opportunities that can benefit members\u2019 research and teaching endeavors. Ecology and Evolution are a shared focus across many divisions, situating DEE as a potential hub for fostering collaborations. SICB and DEE\u2019s dedication to student and postdoc enrichment and career advancement are one of our greatest assets, which is why I have extensively served as a faculty mentor and presentation judge for several years. I am committed to help ensure students and more established researchers and educators feel welcomed, are treated equitably, and have resources available to maximize their societal experiences.<\/p>\n

Alexander Gunderson<\/h4>\n
\"Alexander
Alexander Gunderson, DEE candidate for Secretary-Elect.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Current Position<\/strong>: Assistant Professor, Tulane University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
\nEducation<\/strong>: BS: Minnesota State University, MS: College of William and Mary, PhD: Duke University
\nProfessional experience<\/strong>: Assistant Professor, Tulane University
\nSICB Activities<\/strong>: Member since 2009. Co-organized and led a symposium in 2017. Served as session chair many times. Have been a judge for student poster and oral presentation awards. Current member of the SICB Student Support Committee.
\nOther memberships<\/strong>: Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
\nResearch interests<\/strong>: My lab studies physiological and evolutionary ecology related to anthropogenic global change, with an emphasis on phenotypic plasticity. We apply a variety of perspectives and approaches, including experimental physiology, behavior, field ecology, theoretical modeling, and phylogenetic comparative methods.
\nGoals statement:<\/strong> From my perspective, the greatest strength of SICB is the ability to facilitate great science while also fostering an environment that is welcoming of people from all walks of life and different levels of scientific experience. I felt that support when I was a trainee, and that is why I have been so motivated to bring my own lab members to SICB since becoming a PI.\u00a0 Continuing that tradition has never been more important, and DEE is a key contributor to that mission. My goal as Secretary will be to support DEE in all aspects of this crucial work to help\u00a0 SICB continue as a model scientific society for inclusive, rigorous, and exciting science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian Cox, Chair (chair.dee@sicb.org); Tonia Schwartz, Past Chair (past-chair.dee@sicb.org); Kristi Montooth, Program Officer (dpo.dee@sicb.org); Ariel Kahrl, Secretary (secretary.dee@sicb.org); Morgan Muell … More Spring 2025: Division of Ecology and Evolution<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3835","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3835"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3958,"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3835\/revisions\/3958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sicb.burkclients.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}