2015 Student Conference on Conservation Science - New York
The sixth annual Student Conference on Conservation Science-New York (SCCS-NY) was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York from October 7-9, 2015. Over 200 students, postdocs, and early-career scientists, representing 29 countries and 15 U.S. states, got together at the museum to take part in the only international series of conservation conferences featuring students.
Emerging conservation scientists were provided with opportunities to present and get feedback on their work, gain experience and make contacts to help them launch their careers. In addition to plenary talks, panel discussions and mentorship from leading conservation professionals, selected participants presented their research through 15 talks, 15 speed talks, and 38 posters. Participants were offered 7 in-depth, interactive workshops on a variety of conservation topics, 4 ‘behind the scenes’ museum collection tours and a Resource and Career Fair with 22 representatives from NGOs, government agencies and universities.
SCCS‐NY 2015 featured the Mack Lipkin Man and Nature Series Panel Discussion as a special public program on the evening of Thursday, October 8. The focus of the discussion was “This Year in Conservation,” and featured an engaging conversation between conservationists on their experience and how innovations, ideas, and events over the past year have challenged and inspired conservation action on the world stage and in their own work. The evening's panelists included:
The Mack Lipkin Man and Nature Series was established in honor of Dr. Mack Lipkin, Sr., by his many friends and admirers. Dr. Lipkin was a physician who was a gentle and powerful force in advancing the most humane and caring practices of medicine. The Museum is proud to welcome Rodrigo Medellín and Ivette Perfecto as the 2015 Mack Lipkin Man and Nature Series Fellows.
This is a yearly event that is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact us at [email protected].
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015
By Dr. Rodrigo Medellín, Senior Professor of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Dr. Medellín has studied the ecology and conservation of mammals in Mexico for over 30 years. Dr. Medellín is a Senior Professor of Ecology at the National University of Mexico (UNAM)'s Institute of Ecology, where he has taught conservation biology and community ecology for over 20 years. He has been President of the Mexican Society of Mammalogists, Associate Editor of the Journal of Mammalogy, Conservation Biology, ORYX, and Acta Chiropterologica, and was the President of the Society for Conservation Biology from 2013-2015. He is the founder and director of the 15-year-old Program for the Conservation of Bats of Mexico, which he founded in 1994. Dr. Medellín is Co-Chair of the Bat Specialists Group of IUCN. Dr. Medellín has received many awards for his work in conservation; in 2004 he received the Whitley Award, and in 2012 he was the first-ever recipient of the Whitley Gold Award. In 2008, he received a Rolex Award for Enterprise. Last year, Dr. Medellín was the subject of a BBC documentary film titled Natural World: The Batman of Mexico.
Thursday, October 8th, 2015
By Dr. Ivette Perfecto, George W. Pack Professor of Ecology, Natural Resources, and Environment, University of Michigan.
Dr. Ivette Perfecto is the George W. Pack Professor of Ecology, Natural Resources, and Environment at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources & Environment. Her research focuses on biodiversity and arthropod-mediated ecosystem services in rural and urban agriculture. She also works on spatial ecology of the coffee agroecosystem and is interested more broadly on the links between small-scale sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and food sovereignty. Her lab is investigating how local level multi-species interactions generate autonomous pest control in agroecosystems using coffee agroforests as a model system. Dr. Perfecto has co-authored three books: Breakfast of Biodiversity, Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty, and the forthcoming Coffee Agroecology.
The Student Conference on Conservation Science-New York 2015 was organized by the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in partnership with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science, the Arcus Foundation, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Harvard Forest.
The CBC is grateful to the Edgar M. Cullman, Jr. Family, Vivian H. Donnelley, Strachan Donnelley Family Charitable Lead Unitrust, and an anonymous donor for their generous support of the conference. Conference participation of students in the Museum’s Science Research Mentoring Program is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
