Hunting for aliens

UTK EEB PhD student Sara Kuebbing was recently featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel for her work as part of the Tennessee Exotic Plant Pest Council. She uses an iPad app to identify and track species that are invading the US from elsewhere, typically after introduction by humans. Such species can dramatically affect functioning of ecosystems: examples in the United States include kudzu, zebra mussels, and pythons.

EEB grad students and NIMBioS staff meet with Se. Corker staff

(From left) Kelly Sturner (NIMBioS), Jessica Bryant (EEB), and Emily Austin (EEB) met with Hunter Bethea, a legislative assistant of Sen. Corker.

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Department graduate students Emily Austin and Jessica Bryant along with Kelly Sturner, NIMBioS Education & Outreach Coordinator, were invited to visit the office of U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) to talk about NIMBioS’ and EEB’s involvement in the USA Science & Engineering Festival. The group spoke with Hunter Bethea, legislative assistant to Corker, about how participation in federally-supported science education and outreach programs, such as NSF research experiences for undergraduates and Department of Energy education programs, led them to pursue science careers, and now inspire them to give back through participating in science outreach.

EEB/NIMBioS at USA Science and Engineering Festival

Sarah Wood, undergraduate in the Classen lab, teaches elementary students how to measure plant traits.

The USA Science and Engineering Festival on April 28 and 29 in Washington, DC brought the excitement of science to people from around the country. EEB and NIMBioS teamed up and presented two booths in the festival. Emily Austin and Jessica Bryant, Classen lab graduate students, taught Science Fest attendees about fungal decomposition of wood using decaying logs in terrariums. Sarah Wood, an undergraduate in the Classen Lab, and Kelly Sturner, education and outreach coordinator in NIMBioS, taught visitors about intra- and inter-specific variation in Solidago plants by having them measure stem and leaf traits. Both booths encouraged observations, data collection and graphical analysis. Many Science Fest attendees were families with elementary or middle school-aged children, but several teachers were there to pick up science project ideas for their classrooms. In all, an estimated 300,000 people left the event having learned at least one thing: science is exciting!

Dan Simberloff elected to National Academy of Sciences

Photo from http://www.tipsconf.ca/

Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Science Dan Simberloff (see also Wikipedia entry), a member of the EEB department, was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. According to the NAS website:

"Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive....

"The NAS membership totals approximately 2,200 members and 400 foreign associates, of whom approximately 200 have received Nobel prizes."

There are only eight other National Academy of Sciences members in Tennessee, only one of whom was elected in the past decade. Dr. Simberloff is the only current faculty member from any University of Tennessee campus in the Academy.