Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
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Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Department of Environmental and Forest Biology SUNY2013 -ESF - 2012 Report Annual Annual Annual Report 2012-2013 Front Cover: Collage of images provided by EFB faculty, staff, and students Department of Environmental and Forest Biology Annual Report Summer 2012 Academic Year 2012 – 2013 Donald J. Leopold Chair, Department of Environmental and Forest Biology SUNY-ESF 1 Forestry Drive Syracuse, NY 13210 Email: [email protected]; ph: (315) 470-6760 July 15, 2013 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . 4 Overview to Annual Report . 4 New York Natural Heritage Program . 7 Building(s) . 8 Teaching . .10 Summary of main courses taught by faculty members . 10 Course teaching load summary by faculty members . 13 Undergraduate student advising loads . 15 Curriculum changes . 15 Undergraduate students enrolled in each EFB major . 15 Listing of awards and recognition . 16 Research/Scholarship . .16 Summary of publications/presentations . .16 Science Citation Indices from the Web of Science and Scopus . 16 Summary of grant activity . 18 Patents and Patent Applications . .20 Listing of awards and recognition . 20 Outreach and Service . 21 Enumeration of outreach activities . 21 Summary of grant panel service . 21 Summary of journal editorial board service. 21 Number of journal manuscripts reviewed by faculty. 22 Listing of awards and recognition . 22 Service Learning . 22 Graduate Students. 25 Number of students by degree objectives . 25 Graduate student national fellowships/awards . 25 Graduate recruitment efforts . 26 Graduate student advising . 27 Courses having TA support and enrollment in each . 28 2 Governance and Administrative Structure . .. 29 Components. 29 Supporting offices, committees, directors, and coordinators . 30 Budget . 32 State budget allocations . 32 Funds Generated by Summer Courses and Grad Tuition Incentive Program . 33 SUNY Research Foundation research incentives funds . 33 Development funds . 33 Student Learning Outcomes Assessment . 35 Objectives 2012-2013 . 37 Objectives, status, and relations to strategic plan . 37 Objectives 2013-2014 . 38 Objectives and relations to strategic plan . 38 Undergraduate Recruitment Efforts . 39 Longer Term Visioning and Planning . 40 Appendix A. EFB Faculty: Rank, Education, and Interests . 41 Appendix B. Summary of Individual Faculty’s Most Significant Accomplishments . 44 Appendix C. Faculty Publications (published or in press) . 70 Appendix D. Papers Submitted, In Review, Pending Decision . 81 Appendix E. Papers/Posters Presented at Science Meetings . 85 Appendix F. Faculty Grants . 97 Appendix G. Service to Department, College, and University . 107 Appendix H. Unfunded Service to Governmental Agencies, Public Interest Groups, etc. 115 Appendix I. Unfunded Service to Professional Societies and Organizations . 120 Appendix J. Funded Service to Governmental Agencies, Public Interest Groups, etc. 122 3 Appendix K. Presentations to the Public. 123 Appendix L. Miscellaneous Publications and Outreach Activities and Materials. 129 Appendix M. Foreign Travel. 131 Appendix N. Theses and Dissertations completed . 133 Appendix O. List of MPS students who completed degree requirements . 135 Appendix P. Summary of Faculty and Student Awards . 136 Appendix Q. New York Natural Heritage Program 2012-13 Publications, Presentations and Service . 139 4 Introduction – Overview to Annual Report The topics and format of this annual report generally follow instructions from Provost Bongarten. Additional, brief material is included for readers external to ESF. Individual faculty annual reports, from which much of the information within the EFB Annual Report is directly taken, are available at: http://www.esf.edu/efb/annualreports.htm. Only a few of the many exciting activities and accomplishments within EFB the past academic year can be included in this brief summary. Appendix A lists EFB faculty during the 2012-2013 Academic Year, including their rank, education, and scholarly interests. Numerous contributions by, and highlights of, the faculty follow throughout this report. Each faculty member’s summary (unedited) of their most significant accomplishments this past year is in Appendix B. Of the many faculty highlights this past year, only a few are included in this section. The new ’12 –’13 academic year began on a very sad note with the passing of Distinguished Teaching Professor Dr. Guy Baldassarre on August 20 at the age of 59, from complications due to chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Many fine tributes followed, including the article in The Auk by Thomas Moorman (2013. The Auk 130:194–195). The College Foundation has established an account to endow a student scholarship in Guy’s name. One can contribute to this scholarship by contacting the Development Office or electronically at this link: https://wwwinfo.esf.edu/scripts/giving/givingDonation.asp . Two Professor Emeriti passed during this last academic year. Dr. Maurice Alexander died on March 25 at the age of 95, a few weeks after the department had a special seminar and reception to thank him for his ongoing support and to dedicate Illick 5 in his name. Dr. Hugh Wilcox passed away on April 3 at the age of 96 at his home in Ashland, Oregon. We had two successful faculty searches, hiring Dr. Shannon Farrell for the Wildlife Habitat Ecologist position and Dr. Gordon Paterson for the Toxicologist position. Dr. S. Farrell’s background is with songbirds (and sage grouse) and she has experience writing conservation plans and planning habitat management on private lands involving a variety of stakeholders; she is an ornithologist with skills in landscape modeling and conservation planning and strong interest in the behavioral mechanisms underlying species distributions. Dr. Paterson is leaving his current position as Research Associate at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research where his research has focused on gradient analysis, pharmaceuticals and nanoparticles in the Great Lakes region. Both new EFB faculty begin August 19 of this year. Since 2006, EFB has hired 12 new faculty (Drs. Frair, Fierke, Whipps, Dovciak, Folta, McGee, Cohen, Newman, Ryan, Rundell, S. Farrell, and G. Paterson), representing over one- third of the total number of EFB faculty and a very bright future for the department. Drs. Melissa Fierke and Chris Whipps were promoted to Associate Professor and awarded Continuing Appointment (i.e., tenure). Dr. Lee Newman, already promoted to Associate Professor, was also awarded Continuing Appointment. After 44 years at ESF, Dr. Tsutomu Nakatsugawa retired at the beginning of last academic year. Since, he has been busy travelling and visiting with family and friends. Drs. Charlie Hall and Jim Nakas retired at the end of the spring semester after a combined 60 years of service. Charlie will remain very active in scholarship, but working from his new home base near Flathead Lake, Montana. Besides continuing his research, Jim plans to spend more time fly-fishing. 5 Dr. John Castello, as chair of the EBF Promotion and Tenure Committee, is leading an effort to develop metrics for faculty evaluation purposes. After many research projects on birds, Dr. Jonathan Cohen has received NYS-DEC funding for research on New England cottontails. Dr. Martin Dovciak continues his studies of climate-vegetation gradients and climate change effects on the coniferous-deciduous ecotone and on mountain spruce-fir forests in the Adirondacks and across northeastern US. Dr. John Farrell is guiding significant facility improvements at TIBS including the construction of the Frank Cean Researcher Building (student, faculty, and staff residence spaces, common areas, office and meeting spaces), renovation of the boathouse (including an advanced fish culture and holding capability and new laboratory and shop spaces) and new roofs on all buildings; a well and updated septic system are being installed this summer. Dr. Danny Fernando finished writing eight chapters (out of 12) for his new book, Sexual Reproduction in Forest Trees (Cambridge University Press), that he is co-authoring with Dr. John Owens. In March, Dr. Melissa Fierke was the keynote speaker (“Aspiring to be an intentional model: mother, scientist, advisor, and teacher”) at Utica College’s Womyn’s Herstory Month luncheon and was recognized in April by the Undergraduate Student Association with their Best Teacher Award. Dr. Beth Folta implemented the greatly revised undergraduate curriculum for the Natural History and Interpretation major (to be.