2022 EIS Plenary Speakers

Karen Beard

Utah State University

Dr. Beard is a Professor of Wildland Resources and the Associate Dean of the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University. She earned her Master’s in Ecosystem Science and Management and Ph.D. in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University. Dr. Beard has served as a visiting professor at Dartmouth, a Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Vermont, an associate researcher in the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program in Puerto Rico, and a visiting scientist at the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. Dr. Beard is an expert on species interactions and their resulting effects on ecosystem processes. She studies the effects of climate change and invasive species on ecosystems. Systems she studies include the impact of climate change on Alaska wetland ecosystems and the impact of non-native Coqui frogs in Hawaii. Her primary focus is on how to optimize management of habitats and species in this time of global change.

Dan Blumstein

University of California Los Angeles

Dr. Blumstein is both a professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California Los Angeles. He is also the co-director of the UCLA Evolutionary Medicine Program. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Animal Behavior from the University of California Davis. Research in his lab focuses on the evolution of behavior and conservation biology. Much of his work involves integrating the study of animal behavior into conservation and into other disciplines. A long-term focus of the lab is the study of the evolution of behavior and communication in marmots, particularly the yellow-bellied marmot. Dr. Blumstein has been awarded many honors and is a Fellow of the Society of Biology (2010) and the Animal Behavior Society (2012). He has served as the editor, associate editor, or member of the editorial board for multiple journals, including the editor of Animal Behaviour from 2006 to 2009. Dr. Blumstein has published numerous journal articles, popular media publications, and books. His most recent book is The Nature of Fear: Survival Lessons from the Wild.

Rick Karban

University of California Davis

Dr. Karban is a Distinguished Professor of Entomology at the University of California Davis. He joined the faculty there in 1982, after obtaining his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Karban has published over 200 papers and has written multiple books on his research, including Plant Sensing and Communication and Induced Responses to Herbivory. He is a Fellow in the Ecological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His current research focuses on the role of volatile organic compounds in plant communication, with sagebrush as his model system. He also researches the factors controlling abundance and spatial distribution of wooly bear caterpillars. Dr. Karban also has a passion for helping young ecologists understand how to conduct ecological experiments and be successful in the world of ecological research, and has authored How to Do Ecology (now in its 2nd edition), a book designed to help young ecologists starting in the world of ecology.

Corrie Moreau

Cornell University

Twitter:  @CorrieMoreau

Dr. Moreau is a Matha N. & John C. Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity at Cornell University and the Director and Curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection. Previously, she held multiple positions at the Field Museum of Natural History. She received her Master’s from San Francisco State University and her Ph.D. in Organic and Evolutionary Ecology from Harvard University. Dr. Moreau has publications in a variety of journals, ranging from Science to PNAS to Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Her recognitions included being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (2021), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018), and the Entomological Society of America (2020). She is interested in the factors which have driven and are driving biodiversity. Her research focuses on the evolution of symbiosis, and her lab uses both phylogenies and other data to answer questions about how the symbiosis of ants and their gut-associated bacteria influences the evolution of both partners. Dr. Moreau also cares deeply about scientific education and outreach, and increasing diversity in the sciences. She founded the Field Museum Women in Science group and recently received the Cornell Graduate Diversity & Inclusion Faculty Champion Award (2021).

Peter Marra

Georgetown University

Twitter:  @PeterPMarra

Dr. Marra is an avian ecologist and conservation biologist. He is a Laudator Si’ Professor of Biology and Environment and Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, as well as the Director of the Georgetown Environment Initiative (GEI). Before Georgetown, Dr. Marra served as the Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Dr. Marra earned his Ph.D. from Dartmouth College. He has contributed over 200 publications and several books to the fields of avian ecology, disease ecology, and conservation biology. Research in his lab focuses on studying events in the full annual and life cycle of songbirds and other taxa in order to understand their ecology and better conserve them. Dr. Marra has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received awards from the Smithsonian Institution and the American Ornithologists Union.