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…

What do remote sensing, machine learning, and statistics have in common? Enhancing the accuracy of seagrass monitoring, for one by Krti Tallam Citation: Ha NT, Manley-Harris M, Pham TD, Hawes I. A Comparative Assessment of Ensemble-Based Machine Learning and Maximum Likelihood Methods for Mapping Seagrass Using Sentinel-2 Imagery in Tauranga Harbor, New Zealand. Remote Sensing [Internet]. MDPI AG; 2020 Jan…

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’…

Come hang with the Early Career Ecologists section at ESA 2021 Annual Meeting! We want to meet you and hear from you! We are sponsoring and/or highlighting the following events–just click on a title for more information, and be sure you’re logged in to EventBrite if you want to access the Zoom details! Is there a topic you want to…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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)….

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!…

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….