Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

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Ocoee Rafting

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A group of EEB-ers (and friends) went rafting on the Ocoee last weekend.  The trip was organized by Zach Marion, a grad student in the Fitzpatrick lab who is also a raft guide for RaftOne (http://www.raft1.com/). Everyone who participated had an awesome time and are eager to do it again. A lot of first-year students came out, and last week’s departmental speaker (Eric Sotka) went, too.  Such trips are great for building cohort bonds and promoting future collaborations within the department.  May there be many more EEB/GREBE-organized trips like this in the future!

Schweitzer Awarded Technology Funds

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Jen Schweitzer was awarded over $145,000 in Technology Fee Funds from the University in May.  These funds are being used to purchase a suite of computer and environmental monitoring technologies.  These resources will

  1. Contribute to infrastructure and resources at the EEB Field Station,
  2. Be used in at least five upper division ecology courses which have significant field components (EEB 330, 405, 415, 421, 433),
  3. Be used in undergraduate teaching and research, including permanent field plots along Robert Whittaker’s historic elevational gradient in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1952, 1956).

Technology is growing rapidly for field studies and giving our students access to these instruments, techniques, and skills will greatly advance and enhance their learning and future career opportunities.

Bat Mania

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Gary McCracken took 3 graduate students (Amanda Janicki, Riley Bernard, and Melqui Gamba Rios) to the International Bat Research Conference in Costa Rica in August.  It was the largest bat meeting ever, with over 600 participants from 55 countries.  Below is a photo of the group wearing leaf-noses (which tropical bats have – see the link for a news article about the conference and tropical bats).

http://www.seabcru.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ibrc_2013_abstracts.pdf

NIMBioS Renewal

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $18.6 million to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) to continue its interdisciplinary efforts in developing new mathematical approaches to problems across biology, from the level of the genome to individuals to entire ecosystems.  EEB’s Lou Gross has been the director of NIMBioS since its inception in September 2008.

Ideation Challenge Prize for EEB Grad Student

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Anna (Annie) Furches won third place in the Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge Ideation Challenge in April. Competitors submitted innovative concept papers describing new ways users can interact with the content and tools in Web of Knowledge. This link contains more information about the award and includes Q&A with the winners. Annie was a student in Randy Small’s lab; she graduated with her MS in May.

Costa Rica field course

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Faculty Aimee Classen and Nate Sanders taught a Maymester class in Costa Rica focusing on suitability issues. In addition to visiting many farms and conducting field experiments, students conducted trail maintenance in Monteverdi.

costa

Sarah Wood awarded Sigma Xi grant

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Undergraduate student, Sarah Wood (Classen Lab), was awarded a Sigma Xi grant in aid of research (http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/) for her undergraduate thesis work on how ants in Colorado alter ecosystem processes. Only 30% of ecological applications are awarded and most of these go to graduate students. Sarah will be spending part of her summer in Alaska working as a summer researcher in microbial ecology, but will come back to finish up her work on ants.