Meetings Committee

Composition

• Co-chairs: Immediate Past Program Chair and Future Meetings Chair
• Members:

1. • Current and future designated Co-Program Chairs
   • Current and immediate past Local Hosts
   • Student Section Members:
   • Governing Board member
   • Others as appointed

Committee Members

• Rich Pouyat, U.S. Forest Service (Retired), Future Meetings Chair, Committee Co-Chair (2022 – 2025)
• Greg Goldsmith, Chapman University, Committee Co-Chair, 2024 Program Chair (2022 – 2025)
• Gretchen North, Occidental College, 2024 Local Host (2022 – 2025)
• Meghan Avolio, John Hopkins University, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023 – 2026)
• Naupaka Zimmerman, University of San Francisco ,2025 Co-Program Chair (2023 – 2026)
• Tim Nuttle, Oikos Ecology LLC, 2023 Program Chair (2021 – 2024)
• Olyssa Starry, Portland State University, 2023 Local Host (2021 – 2024)
• Steve Sheffield, Bowie State University, (2021 – 2024)
• Shelby Rinehart, Drexel University (2023-2026)
• Jennifer Funk, UC Davis, Governing Board Member (2021 – 2024)
• Opemipo Ijose, University of North Texas, Student Representative (2023-2024)

Program Subcommittee

The Program Subcommittee is responsible for developing the current year’s Annual Meeting program over a 14-month planning timeline. The Subcommittee works closely with the Director of Conventions & Meetings and Meeting Program Associate. The responsibilities of the Program Subcommittee include:

• Provide input on selection of the scientific plenary speaker.
• Approve calls for sessions and abstracts.
• After peer review of paper sessions is completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
• For those contributed abstracts determined by the annual meeting abstract review subcommittee to require further consideration make acceptance decisions.
• Make final acceptance decisions about abstracts that have provided a required revision or have appealed a rejection. After acceptance decisions are made, scheduling sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics.
• Review the meeting evaluation.
• Participate in monthly committee calls.

Composition Requirements

• Chairs: Current, immediate past, and future designated Co-Program Chairs
• Members: Current Local Hosts, and others as appointed

Subcommittee Members

• Greg Goldsmith, Chapman University, 2024 Program Chair (2022 – 2025)
• Gretchen North, Occidental College, 2024 Local Host (2022 – 2025)
• Meghan Avolio, John Hopkins University 2025 Co-Program Chair
• Naupaka Zimmerman, University of San Francisco, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023 – 2026)
• Tim Nuttle, Oikos Ecology LLC,  2023 Program Chair (2021 – 2023)
• Kimberly Komatsu, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, (2023 – 2026)
• Lara Urbat, PSEG Long Island (2023 – 2026)
• Veronica Tangiri, Prince William (VA) Soil and Water Conservation District (2023 – 2026)
• Ivette Perfecto, University of Michigan (2023 – 2026)

Program Chair

The Annual Meeting Program Chair is responsible for leading the program committee in defining the scientific program, including selecting plenary speakers, accepting proposed sessions, and managing abstract reviews. The Chair responds to issues concerning the program development, recommends new approaches, and identifies opportunities to improve the scientific program and coordinates the efforts of many volunteers to build the scientific program. The Program Chair is not expected to manage the logistical details of the meeting or deal with vendors, including hotels, convention centers, or other service providers. ESA staff are responsible for managing logistics, dealing with service providers, and communicating with attendees. Responsibilities of the Program Chair:

• Propose a meeting theme to the governing board.
• In consultation with the committee select and invite the scientific plenary speaker (in even-numbered years; the MacArthur Lecture is given in odd numbered years
• Participate in committee to select the New Phytologist lecturer (New Phytologist is the lead.), and coordinate all plenary speakers to provide a robust and diverse program.
• Lead all Program Committee conference calls (goal to hold these monthly).
• Lead the decision-making process for paper session acceptance after peer review is completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
• Lead the final acceptance decisions about contributed abstracts that have been peer reviewed by the annual meeting abstract review subcommittee.
• Oversee the scheduling of sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics reviews in consultation with the rest of the Program Committee
• Lead the committee in proactively promoting the meeting to relevant communities
• Co-chair the Meetings Committee the year after the chaired meeting.
• Attend Meetings Committee business meetings (Spring and on-site at the meeting) for three years (before, during, and after the chaired year).

Responsibilities of the Local Host

The Local Host role focuses on providing a local perspective to meeting planning. The Local Host is not expected to manage the logistical details of the meeting or deal with vendors, including hotels, convention centers, or other service providers. ESA staff are responsible for managing logistics, dealing with service providers, and communicating with attendees.

• Serve as a member of the Meetings Committee for a 3-year term. The Meetings Committee meets in person at the Annual Meeting and engages in discussion over email and Zoom meetings throughout the year.
• Serve as a member of the Program Committee for a 1-year term and participate in the decision-making process for scientific program content. This primarily involves looking over the proposals for meeting sessions and participating in two conference calls (one in November and one in January) to make acceptance decisions.
• Work with the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) section in developing a land acknowledgement for the meeting location.
• Encourage submission of field trip proposals, including reaching out to local contacts when the call for proposals is open.
• Recommend a local organization to receive environmental offset funds. The recommendation should be submitted to the Governing Board in the fall of the preceding year.
• Provide a realistic local perspective during the field trip proposal submission and review process. The program committee as a whole will review proposals, and a local perspective can be invaluable when checking to see if a trip’s planned itinerary is realistic. ESA staff will arrange for each trip’s logistical needs.
• Write a short narrative about the region (local history, culture, natural areas of interest, restaurants, family activities, and other resources) to help promote the meeting and provide attendees with a sense of place. This narrative will be posted on the meeting site in the fall of the preceding year.
• Advise staff about local areas of interest that could be incorporated into the program, especially for social events.

Annual Meeting Abstract Review Subcommittee (AMARC)

The AMARC is responsible for providing peer review of abstracts that have been submitted to the annual meeting and coordinates accordingly with the Program Subcommittee. The responsibilities of this committee include:

• Generate and maintain guidelines for best practices for peer review in collaboration with the program subcommittee.
• Provide training opportunities for committee members to ensure high quality peer review.
• Provide peer review for contributed and latebreaking abstracts.

Advise program subcommittee on submission and review guidelines to improve the peer review process.

Composition Requirements

30 members serving three-year terms on a rotating basis.

• Chair: A member of the program subcommittee who does not also serve on the meetings committee
• Members: Current ESA members who represent the diversity of ecological science presented at the annual meeting.  

Subcommittee Members

• AMARC Subcommittee Chair, Kim Komatsu, UNC, Greensboro (2023-2026)
• Toby Adjuik, Iowa State University (2023-2026)
• Joshua Ajowele, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2023-2026)
• Kaysee Arrowsmith, University of Texas at Austin (2023-2026)
• Cole Brookson, Georgetown University (2023-2026)
• Yifeng Cao, Louisiana State University (2023-2026)
• Doug Causey, University of Alaska at Anchorage (2023-2026)
• Jennifer Chandler, West Chester University of Pennsylvania (2023-2026)
• Elizabeth Cook, Barnard University (2023-2026)
• Amanda da Silva, University of Michigan/Federal University of ABC (2023-2026)
• Iolanda da Silva, University of California at Merced (2023-2026)
• Rae Fadlovich USU (2023-2026)
• Scott Fordham USGS (2023-2026)
• TJ Francisco, Stanford University (2023-2026)
• Savannah Fuqua, University of Arizona (2023-2026)
• Alison Gerken, USDA (2023-2026)
• Hannah Goemann, Montana State University (2023-2026)
• Daniela Guzman, Senckenberg Institute (2023-2026)
• Sheryl Hosler, University of Illinois, Chicago (2023-2026)
• Madeline Jarvis-Cross, University of Toronto (2023-2026)
• Saheed Jimoh, University of Wyoming (2023-2026)
• Jurek Kolasa, Mcmaster University (2023-2026)
• Enzo Martellimoya, University of Montana (2023-2026)
• Kit McLean, University of Michigan (2023-2026)
• Nicholas Medina, Morton Arboretum (2023-2026)
• Scott Meiners, Eastern Illinois University (2023-2026)
• Margaret Metz, Lewis and Clark College (2023-2026)
• Ashlee Mikkelsen, University of Southeastern Norway (2023-2026)
• Rajendra Mohan Panda, University of South Florida (2023-2026)
• Nia Morales, University of Florida (2023-2026)
• Taofeek Muraina, Texas State University (2023-2026)
• Kenneth Oppon, University of Alberta (2023-2026)
• Wendy Owens-Rios, Rochester Institute of Tech/SUNY Geneseo (2023-2026)
• Ryan Pienaar, Brigham Young University (2023-2026)
• Yanning Qiu, Wageningen University (2023-2026)
• Chase Rakowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2023-2026)
• Deusdedith Rugemalila, Florida International University (2023-2026)
• Steve Rust, Nature’s Capital (2023-2026)
• Samuel Rycroft, University of Western Ontario (2023-2026)
• Courtney Siegert, Mississippi State University (2023-2026)
• Trifosa Simamora, Cornell University (2023-2026)
• Bruno Soares, University of Regina (2023-2026)
• Jack Sytsma, Kansas State University (2023-2026)
• Pattama Ulrich, The Ohio State University (2023-2026)
• Pete Wade, NA (2023-2026)
• Alyssa Willson, University of Notre Dame (2023-2026)
• Carolina Zamorano-Montanez, Universidad de Caldas y Manizales (2023-2026)