IALE-North America Committees

IALE-North America is engaged in a variety of exciting programs to serve its members and the global community of landscape ecology students, scholars, and practitioners. Activities are administered by the Committees listed below.

IALE-North America needs your help in carrying out its programs and developing new initiatives. If you can assist in committee work, contact the Committee Chair to sign up.

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Awards Committee

To recognize outstanding contributions from members of the landscape ecology community, the Regional Chapter presents awards in the following categories: Distinguished Landscape Ecologist; Distinguished Landscape Practitioner; Distinguished Service to the Regional Chapter; Outstanding Publication in the Discipline of Landscape Ecology; and, Best Student Presentation at the Annual Meeting (where both oral and poster presentations are considered)

Jennifer Costanza, Chair
Center for Integrated Forest Science and Synthesis
U.S. Forest Service
P.O. Box 12254
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2254  USA
jennifer <dot> costanza <at> usda <dot> gov 

Members:  Caitlin Cunningham, Sarah Goslee, Dan Kashian, Betty Kreakie, Emily Minor, and ​Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis

Foreign Scholar Travel Award Committee

In recognition that international perspectives are valuable to members of the Regional Chapter, the Foreign Scholar Travel Award supports travel to the Regional Chapter’s Annual Meetings for foreign colleagues from non-G7 countries.

Anne Kuhn-Hines​, Chair
US Environmental Protection Agency
Atlantic Ecology Division
27 Tarzwell Drive
Narragansett, RI 02835 USA
kuhn <dot> anne <at> epa <dot> gov
ialena <dot> foreignscholar <at> gmail <dot> com

Members: Robert Corry, Deahn DonnerWright, and Kathy Vigness-Raposa

Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee is responsible for seeking diverse nominations for the Executive Committee from members of the Regional Chapter, preparing a balanced slate of candidates, facilitating a standardized process for collecting candidate profiles to present to the membership for election, and collecting and reporting on the voting results. 

Steve Matthews, Co-Chair
School of Environment and Natural Resources
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
The Ohio State University
2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH  43210  USA
matthews.204 <at> osu <dot> edu

Todd Lookingbill, Co-Chair
Department of Geography and the Environment 
University of Richmond 
Richmond, VA 23173 USA
tlooking <at> richmond <dot> edu

Members: Nathan Gill, Darrel Jenerette, and Carly Ziter

Meeting Site Selection Committee

The Meeting Site Selection Committee works on a four-year timeline to target future Annual Meeting hosts and locations. This committee also is responsible for documenting and updating the history for said meeting planning.

Darrel Jenerette, Chair
​Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
​University of California Riverside
2142 Batchelor Hall
Riverside, CA 92521 USA
Darrel <dot> jenerette <at> ucr <dot> edu

Members: Jeff Hollister, Jennifer Miller, ​and Yessica Rico Mancebo del Castillo

Sponsorship Committee 

The Sponsorship Committee seeks to increase revenue and lower registration fees for the Annual Meeting by obtaining sponsorship from a wide variety of organizations such as government agencies, companies, and educational institutions that support landscape ecology. 

Tom Albright, Chair
​Department of Geography and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 N. Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89557 USA
talbright <at> unr <dot> edu
​
Members: Pete August, Bruce Jones, and Brian R. Sturtevant

Policy Committee

The Policy Committee leads the Regional Chapter in facilitating the use of landscape ecology knowledge by landscape policy makers and decision makers. It functions as an interface between landscape ecology experts and policy makers/decision makers. The Policy Committee promotes increased use of landscape ecology knowledge in policy and application, collaboration with larger science societies that have complementary goals and ongoing staff and program resources, and promotes the use of Annual Meetings to further synthesize policy-relevant science and training for effective communication on policy issues.

Audrey Mayer, Chair
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences and Department of Social Sciences
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Dr 
Houghton, MI 49931 USA
almayer <at> mtu <dot> edu

Members: Jonathan Bossenbroek, Amy Daniels, Amelie Davis, and Yolanda Wiersma

Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Committee

The EID Committee works to foster and proactively address equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) within the Regional Chapter. Specifically, the EID Committee
fosters a shared culture within the Regional Chapter that promotes the goals of accepting, respecting, and valuing differences that include attributes such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, sexual identity, ability, language, family circumstances, and cultural backgrounds. 

Kusum Naithani, Chair
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
​University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701  USA
kusum <at> uark <dot> edu

Members: Nathan Alexander, Li An, David Bell, Kristin Braziunas, Kristin Byrd, Caitlin Cunningham, Kelly Green Guilbeau, Xavier Haro-Carrión, Falk Huettmann, Garrett Knowlton, Yessica Rico Mancebo del Castillo, Georgina Sanchez, Sophie Taddeo, Shyam M. Thomas, Miguel Villarreal, and Yolanda Wiersma

Communications Committee 

The Communications Committee coordinates and facilitates the communication of the Regional Chapter’s activities to promote an understanding of and appreciation for landscape ecology. The Communications Committee serves a diverse audience that includes current and future members, the broader academic community, educators, policy-makers and decision-makers, businesses and industry, and the general public. 

Travis Heckford, Co-Chair
Landscape Ecologist
Ministry of Forests–Cariboo Region
British Columbia, Canada
Travis.Heckford <at> gov <dot> bc <dot> ca​

Yolanda Wiersma, Co-Chair
Department of Biology
Memorial University
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
​ywiersma <at> mun <dot> ca

​Members: Amelie Davis, Anita Morzillo, Florencia Sangermano, ​and Carly Ziter (Twitter manager)