Keynote Speakers
The Program Committee of the 10th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is pleased to announce its keynote speakers:
Opening Keynote
Dr. Marcia McNutt, Director, US Geological Survey
Dr. Marcia McNutt is responsible for leading the Nation’s largest water, earth, biological science and civilian mapping agency in its mission to provide the scientific data that enable decision makers to create sound policies for a changing world. Dr. McNutt previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), in Moss Landing, CA. Dr. McNutt has participated in 15 major oceanographic expeditions and served as chief scientist on more than half of those voyages. She has published 90 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Her research has ranged from studies of ocean island volcanism in French Polynesia to continental break-up in the Western United States to uplift of the Tibet Plateau. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded by the American Geophysical Union the Macelwane Medal in 1988 for research accomplishments by a young scientist and the Maurice Ewing Medal in 2007 for her significant contributions to deep-sea exploration. Dr. McNutt received a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Colorado College and a doctorate in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Climate Keynote
Long-term Perspectives on Climate Change and Ecological Impacts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Dr. Stephen Gray, Water Resources Data System, Wyoming State Climatologist
Stephen Gray is the Director of the University of Wyoming’s Water Resources Data System and the Wyoming State Climatologist. Dr. Gray’s work explores the interplay between climate variability, climatic change, and natural resource management. Much of his research focuses on drought and climate change impacts in the western United States. His most recent studies include a detailed examination of snow pack variability in the North American Cordillera, and a review of how changes in ocean circulation patterns can affect precipitation in the West. Dr. Gray received the American Water Resources Association’s Henry R. Boggess Award in 2005, and he is a former National Research Council Research Associate with the US Geological Survey. Steve received his PhD from the University of Wyoming in 2003.
Land Use Keynote
Land Use Change in Greater Yellowstone
Dr. Andrew Hansen, Montana State University
Andrew Hansen is Professor in the Ecology Department and Director of the Landscape Biodiversity Lab at Montana State University. He teaches introductory ecology to undergraduates and landscape ecology to graduate students. His research focuses on interactions among biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and land use, with an emphasis on landscape management. He received a BS in Ecology from Huxley School of Environmental Sciences, Western Washington University. He completed a PhD in ecology at the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Hansen completed post doctoral research positions in landscape ecology at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and with the Scientific Committee on Problems in the Environment (SCOPE) in France. He then joined the faculty of Oregon State University, where Dr. Hansen studied ecological approaches to forestry. At Montana State University, he is focusing on rates of land use change and consequences for protected areas such as Yellowstone National Park. Results from Yellowstone provided the basis for comparative study of land use change surrounding several nature reserves and biodiversity within reserves for six greater ecosystems around the world. Dr. Hansen also led a national study of global change effects on forest biodiversity as part of the US Assessment of Climate Change and Variability. He is currently studying vulnerability of national parks to land use and climate change across the United States. His work uses a combination of remote sensing, computer simulation and field studies. This research is funded primarily by NASA, Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Agriculture, US Department of the Interior, conservation organizations, and the timber industry.
Invasive Species Keynote
Developing Priorities for Managing Invasive Species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Dr. Robert Gresswell, US Geological Survey
Dr. Gresswell has been studying habitat relationships and the life-history organization of cutthroat trout for more than 35 years. He is currently a research biologist with the US Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Bozeman, Montana, and he serves as an affiliate assistant professor in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University. His interest in the role of disturbance in shaping aquatic systems has led to research concerning the effects of fire, timber harvest, invasive species, and climate change. Dr. Gresswell has been involved with the lake trout issue in Yellowstone Lake since these invaders were first discovered in 1994.
Superintendent’s International Luncheon
Moose, Humans, and Climate Change in Arctic Sweden
Dr. Göran Ericsson, Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Göran Ericsson has held a chaired professorship in Wildlife and Fisheries since 2007 at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Umeå, where he studies the natural resource base and human users. Dr. Ericsson received his MS from Uppsala University in 1994, where he studied the effects of hunting on moose movements. In 1999, he earned a PhD from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences after studying demographic and life history consequences of harvests on moose. In 2000–2001, Dr. Ericsson was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Department of Rural Sociology. From 1999 to 2002, Dr. Ericsson worked in strategic research planning and evaluation for the Swedish EPA. In 2002 he attained the rank of associate professorship in animal ecology, and in 2007 he was appointed to a chair in wildlife tourism. His current research involves wildlife ecology, ungulate migration, climate, browsing in relation to forestry practices, aspen population dynamics, and human dimensions of wildlife management with emphasis on large mammalian predators. Dr. Ericsson is involved in interdisciplinary projects with archeologists, economists, physical geographers, political scientists, and sociologists. His model species are moose, wild boar, and other ungulates in the boreal and neo-boreal landscape. Recently, he was invited to lead a new research initiative using GPS-tracking of individual Arctic Sweden moose, ICEMOOSE. The project is a joint initiative with ICEHOTEL (a hotel built of snow and ice), Sveaskog (Sweden’s largest forest owner), and the Swedish Hunters’ Association that supports Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences’s research on climate, moose, and man.
A. Starker Leopold Banquet and Lecture
From Range Management to Ecology
Dr. Mary Meagher, retired National Park Service biologist
Mary Meagher came to Yellowstone in October of 1959, having accepted the museum curator’s position. However, with a master’s degree in wildlife management Dr. Meagher had a strong interest in wildlife and field work. After two years and a rewriting of her position description to a park naturalist with curatorial duties, Dr. Meagher began to think about more research work. In 1962, Dr. A. Starker Leopold accepted her as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, with a dissertation focus on the Yellowstone bison. During this time, Dr. Meagher also continued to work as a staff naturalist at Yellowstone. In 1968, she was reassigned to a research position in Yellowstone. When Glen Cole, then park supervisory, was reassigned to Voyageurs National Park in 1976, she agreed to take over the supervisory position, adding Cole’s workload to her own. At the end of 1983, she asked to return to full-time research, with primary responsibility for the ecology of the Yellowstone bison. Though she was subsequently reassigned to the US Geological Survey Biological Resources Division, she remained at Yellowstone and retired in 1997.
Aubrey L. Haines Luncheon and Lecture
Dr. Judith Meyer, Department of Geography, Geology and Planning, Missouri State University
Judith Meyer is a historical geographer in the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning at Missouri State University in Springfield. She received her MS and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison after working for almost a decade as a tour guide in Yellowstone National Park. Her dissertation on the evolution of a unique sense of place for Yellowstone was published as The Spirit of Yellowstone (1996, Rowman and Littlefield; 2003, Roberts Rinehart) and she continues to study Yellowstone history from the perspective of people’s perception of the park through narrative and visual representation of place. Most recently, her research has focused on the presence of women and families in the park during its earliest decades, historical accounts of fire, early European views of the park experience, and Yellowstone’s role in international nature protection efforts more generally.
Updated 6/03/2010
