Ecological Society of America

Welcome and Greetings: Katherine S. McCarter, ESA Executive Director
Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Norm Christensen, ESA President
Keynote: Ecological Literacy in a Phantasmagorical World, Thomas Lovejoy, President, the Heinz Center

Thomas E. Lovejoy has been President of The Heinz Center since May 2002. Before coming to The Heinz Center, he was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund–U.S. He conceived the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (a joint project between the Smithsonian and Brazil's INPA), originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps, and is the founder of the public television series Nature. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Dr. Lovejoy served on science and environmental councils or committees under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. He received his B. S. and Ph.D. (biology) degrees from Yale University.

Click here to listen to the mp3 - Plenary Session

Welcome and Greetings: Katherine S. McCarter, ESA Executive Director
Presider: Norm Christensen, ESA President
State of the Society Address: Norm Christensen, ESA President
Presentation of 2008 ESA Awards
Keynote: Ecological Science and Tomorrow's World, Lord Robert May, University of Oxford, UK

Lord Robert May holds a joint professorship at Oxford University and Imperial College, London and is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. From 2000 to 2005, he served as president of The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science. Prior to that, he was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Head of the UK Office of Science and Technology. Lord May was awarded a knighthood in 1996 and appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1998, both for “Services to Science”. His scientific interests include how populations are structured and respond to change, particularly with respect to infectious diseases and biodiversity.

Click here to listen to the mp3 - Opening Scientific Plenary and Awards Ceremony

Welcome and Greetings: Louis Gross, ESA Program Chair
Keynote: Moving beyond ecological to educational research: What are the questions? How do we answer them? What have we learned? Diane Ebert-May is a Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University.

She provides national leadership for promoting professional development, evaluation and improvement of faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students who actively participate in creative research about teaching and learning in the context of their discipline. Her previous work at Northern Arizona University focused on professional development of K-12 teachers and assessment of their students in science. She actively contributes to the educational initiatives of Ecological Society of America, served on the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Evaluating Undergraduate Teaching, NRC Committee on Integrating Education with Biocomplexity, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; is on the editorial board of CBE-Life Sciences Education (American Society of Cell Biology), served as advisory board member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education, and is on the board of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC).

Click here to listen to the mp3 - Recent Advances Lecture

Welcome and Greetings: Louis Gross, ESA Program Chair
Moderator: Louis Gross, ESA Program Chair
Panel Participants: Paul Risser, Sunny Power, Charles Price
Rapporteur: Jacquelyn Gill

The Closing Plenary Lunch will provide an informally structured opportunity for attendees to hear the perspectives of a panel of distinguished ecologists on the meeting just past, and their more general reflections on the history and future of the Society's meetings. Paul Risser, Oklahoma University, and Sunny Power, Cornell University, and Charles Price, Georgia Institute of Technology, will serve as panel members. Jacquelyn Gill, winner of the 2008 Buell Award, will act as the rapporteur. The lunch menu will include tri-colored ravioli, tossed garden salad with red onion, cucumbers, Roma tomatoes, cabernet vinaigrette, assorted fresh beans, carrots, and red peppers, and rustic apple galette.