Scope | Faculty and Staff Notes

Memberships, Appointments and Awards

James S. Clark, H.L. Blomquist Professor of Biology, served again as director of the 2nd Institute on Statistical Computation for Ecological Inference and Prediction this past summer. The Summer Institute is an NSF-funded 11-day graduate/ post-graduate level summer school that introduces ecologists and earth scientists to modern statistical computation techniques. The institute convened in June at the Center on Global Change on the Duke campus.

Clark also served on the NSF review panel in for UCLA's Center for Embedded Network Sensing (CENS). The center is a major research enterprise engaged in the development of wireless sensor systems and the application of revolutionary sensing technology to critical scientific and societal applications.

Dale Gillete, adjunct professor in the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, received the Distinguished Career award at the 6th International Conference on Aeolian Research (ICAR) for his"outstanding theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of sediment transport by wind." The award was presented at the ICAR conference in July at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Gabel Associate Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Marine Ecology Patrick N. Halpin has been selected to serve on two committees, the U.S. National Committee for The Census of Marine Life (CoML), and the Steering Committee for the World Conservation Basemap initiative.

The U.S. National Committee builds partnerships among federal and state government agencies, marine industries, environmental groups, universities and marine labs, aquariums and natural history museums, in order to identify U.S. research and data priorities, encourage programs and develop funding, provide quality control, and promote knowledge of the CoML and its findings.

The World Conservation Basemap initiative, conceived in 2005, is a consortium of regional and global conservation organizations that is working to create a Web-based Conservation Geoportal and an online World Atlas of Conservation.

Professor of hydrology and micrometeorology and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Gabriel Katul assumes the office of secretary for the Hydrology Section this fall. AGU is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity.

The Society for Marine Mammalogy has elected Rachel Carson Associate Professor of Marine Conservation Biology Andrew J. Read as president beginning August 2008. Election as SMM's president represents a four-year commitment, beginning with two years as president-elect followed by two as president. The society is the world's leading scientific society devoted to the educational and scientific advancement of marine mammal science and the conservation of marine mammal populations.

Dean of the Nicholas School and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry William H. Schlesinger is a new member of the Board of Trustees for the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). SELC is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and has offices in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga.

Research assistant Michael S. Coyne began his term as president of the International Sea Turtle Society in May 2006. The ISTS is a global network of diverse peoples, professions and cultures sharing knowledge, ideas and inspiration to ensure healthy sea turtle populations worldwide by promoting the exchange of information that advances the global knowledge of sea turtle biology and conservation. Election as president is a five-year commitment of which two are served prior as president-elect and two following as past president. During his presidency Coyne will be responsible for organizing and hosting the next Annual Sea Turtle Symposium, which will be held in February 2007 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.