SCCS-NY 2025

The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and its partners invited students, postdocs, and early-career professionals to take part in the 16th annual Student Conference on Conservation Science – New York (SCCS-NY), held both online and on-site at the Museum.

As a part of the only international series of conservation conferences featuring students, SCCS-NY provides opportunities for emerging scientists to professionally network, gain experience, and present and get feedback on their work. Interactions with peers as well as leaders in science, policy, and management will encourage collaborations, inspire further research, and create lasting professional connections.

Conference Program

2025 Plenaries

Conservation happens in a place, from a place, rooted in history

Keynote Speaker: Liliana Dávalos, Professor of Conservation Biology, Stony Brook University

Over the last two decades global efforts to support conservation have emphasized markets, for example, for genetic resources. And yet, key indicators of biodiversity continue to trend downward, raising the question of how to curb their trajectory into the 21st century. As a biologist at the interface between environmental and social sciences, I examine these efforts through the lens of commodification, and contrast them with more local alternatives. This exercise reveals how community-based conservation often resists commodification, instead emerging from concerns and hopes for future generations, wildlife, ecosystems, and one another. Ultimately, conservation happens in a place, from a place and rooted in history that suggests the need for a science of care.

Liliana M. Dávalos is a Professor of Conservation Biology at Stony Brook University, a member of the Board of Directors of Bat1K, the Scientific Advisory Board of Bat Conservation International (BCI), and one of the four leaders of the Global Union of Conservation Networks. As a scientist at the interface between molecular ecology and biodiversity and society, Dávalos’ early contributions led to an invitation to the 2013 Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, which recognizes only a few young scientists each year.

Following international recognition for her work translating fundamental research in zoology into ideas for addressing zoonotic viral spread, she delivered the 2021 Margolin Lecture on Environmental Affairs for outstanding leadership in interdisciplinary research on natural ecosystems, the environment, and human interactions with it. In 2023, Dr. Dávalos was named a Glaser Visiting Professor at Florida International University, an honor shared with several Nobel Laureates, in addition to earning an inaugural Fulbright Amazonia Fellowship.

Dávalos received her undergraduate degree in Biology with an emphasis in Genetics at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. She received her certificate in Environmental Policy Studies and her doctorate in ecology, evolution, and environmental biology from Columbia University in New York City. With more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dávalos’ articles range across diverse topics including the genomics of high sugar diets and brain shrinkage, evolution of chemosensation, phylogenetics, the evolution of quantitative traits, the causes and consequences of extinction, and the socioeconomics of deforestation.

Careers Panel: Exploring Diverse Paths in Conservation

Panelists: Chanda Bennett, Kevin Webb, and Mark Weckel

What's next after presenting your research at the Student Conference on Conservation Science? Panelists shared their journeys in the conservation field. The panelists, moderated by CBC Director Dr. Ana Luz Porzecanski, discussed their career paths, shared challenges, and gave advice to conference participants. 

Artist-in-Residence: Hara Woltz

Hara Woltz is an interdisciplinary artist and scientist who investigates the relationships between environments, humans, and other living organisms through a variety of visual and immersive media. She has exhibited in spaces ranging from Sotheby’s to Storm King Art Center, and her works reside in private and corporate collections. Woltz has worked on a number of global ecological design projects, including habitat restoration for native species in New Zealand, giant tortoise and Waved Albatross habitat assessment and restoration in Galápagos, Ecuador, and biological and cultural resilience programs in Solomon Islands, Melanesia.

Her work has appeared in various publications, including ORION, Biological Conservation, Popular Science, New York Magazine, and Landscape Architecture Magazine. As an undergraduate, she studied studio art and biology at Duke University. She has an MA in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia, and an MA in conservation biology from Columbia University. Past awards include an American Museum of Natural History fellowship, American Society of Landscape Architects awards of honor, Columbia departmental research awards, and various artist residencies. Woltz lives and works in New York City.

Hara guided conference attendees in both individual and collaborative work reflecting on their roles as the next generation of conservation scientists.