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Meet an Early Career Ecologist: Bijan Seyednasrollah

For this month’s blog post, meet Dr. Bijan Seyednasrollah, the Lead Data Scientist at Realtor.com (News Corp)! Tell us about yourself! In short, I am a multidisciplinary data scientist as I have occasionally switched fields throughout my career. After getting a bachelor and a master in mechanical engineering, I worked as an engineer in the petroleum industry for about 6…

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Meet Your New ECE Chair: Pacifica Sommers

This month’s blog post features an interview with Pacifica Sommers, the new ECE Chair for this year! Introduction – tell us about yourself! I am a microbial ecologist based at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. My formal job title is Research Associate (and also Lecturer for the fall 2021). My doctoral training at…

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Paleo litter produces greenhouse gases

By Alexis Heinz Summary While working as a laboratory manager for seven years in the department of Natural Resources at Cornell, I learned the invaluable experience of mentoring undergraduate students who had the opportunity to conduct research through the Hunter R. Rawlings, III Presidential Scholars Program.  Professor Joseph B. Yavitt guided four different presidential scholars to research the ‘Paleo Litter’…

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Social distancing: a journey to understand manes and myself

Social distancing: a journey to understand manes and myself by Stotra Chakrabarti Citation: Chakrabarti S, Bump JK, Jhala YV, Packer C. 2021. Contrasting levels of social distancing between the sexes in lions. iScience, Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102406 ‘Social life’ is rare yet fundamental to the world around us. A busy swarm of bees, a disciplined trail of ants or an enigmatic…

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Early Career Ecologists Section Outstanding Publication Award

The Early Career Ecologists (ECE) Section of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) announces our annual award for Outstanding Publication by an Early Career Ecologist. This award has been given since 2017 and is meant to honor exceptional research by an ECE section member published as a peer-reviewed manuscript of particular importance and relevance to the ecological community. The award consists…

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On the challenges of life as a graduate student, scientist, and new mom

By Amanda J Gorton I was three weeks postpartum when I received the news that my post-doc fellowship had been selected for funding. My immediate feelings were a mixture of relief, excitement, and sheer panic. I was relieved that I had secured my next position and would not be unemployed after defending my PhD. I was excited to move in…

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Differential Gene Expression: successful parenting strategies for Caribbean coral

by Krti Tallam Note from the Author: Nia Symone Walker is a 4th year PhD Candidate at Stanford University. Nia received her degree in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University in 2016.  Prior to her graduate studies, Nia conducted research as a Science Educator for the Maritime Aquarium’s classrooms, supported by NOAA’s Environmental Literacy Grants Program. Nia primarily uses…

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Three elephants walking across a sandy road, with forest in the background. On the left is the biggest elephant, and to her right is a baby. The third elephant is on the baby elephant's right side. All three are looking at the photographer.

Conflict Mitigation or Coexistence?

Krti Tallam At the age of 13, my eagerness to make real-world impact, coupled with a thirst for environmental conservation and human wellbeing, fueled me to create an internship with an international conservation organization and then travel there to fill that spot. A day after final exams, I found myself in the remote Western Ghats of south India, studying Asian…

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Why I left academia after getting my PhD

I am a community marine ecologist by training. My PhD consisted of me driving a boat to conduct fieldwork in a wetsuit in Moorea, French Polynesia. Now, I am a Research Staff Member at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)….

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Early Career Events at ESA 2019

Early Career Ecologists Section list of relevant activities and presentations ESA Annual Meeting 2019 – Louisville, KY We will have a booth in the exhibit hall each day of the conference and we guarantee someone will be there for the first hour each day (4-5pm). Come on by to say hi, get some swag, and get a semi-professional photo taken!…

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2019-2020 Early Career Ecologists Officer Election Announcement

It’s the last week to vote in the ECE 2019-2020 elections for Vice-Chair and Secretary Treasurer. Cast your vote here. To be valid, votes must be cast by 11:59pm on July 21, 2019. Only current members of the ECE Section are eligible to vote. Limit one vote per eligible member. Candidates will be elected by a simple majority of valid ballots cast….

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Seeking mentors for the 2020 Early Career Mentorship Program

Call for ESA Mentors! Early Career Mentoring Program Ecological Society of America Virtual Meeting, 2020 If you are interested in becoming a potential ESA Mentor and are planning to register for the 2020 virtual meeting, please fill out our ECMP Google form. Description: Conferences provide unique opportunities for biologists to interact with others in their field; however, these opportunities are rarely structured…

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