Environmental variability can range from daily to decadal time scales. Many forms of environmental variability shape ecosystems, and, consequently, the human communities that depend on them. Understanding this variability and managing in the face of uncertainty is critical for ecosystem management. This is especially true in the context of climate change, where many environmental factors (e.g. droughts) are expected to intensify and occur more regularly. Dr. White's work focuses on these ideas in the context of species monitoring and the management of ecosystems, including coral reef fisheries.

Dr. Easton White is a quantitative ecologist working to solve problems in ecology, conservation, sustainability, and ecosystem management. His current projects include designing protected area networks, optimizing species monitoring, and modeling coupled socio-ecological systems. He is a Research Associate in the Biology Department at the University of Vermont. You can read more about his work on his website: https://eastonwhite.github.io/

I study how thermal variability impacts phenotype and fitness across taxa and focus on temperature-dependent physiology during formative life history stages, namely development and reproduction. My research provides critical insight into the mechanisms that may underlie responses to climate change by enhancing the resolution with which we understand the impact of temperature on organisms.

I am an eco-physiologist broadly interested in how the environment generates phenotypic diversity. My research focuses on how temperature mean and variation affects physiology and behavior across an individual’s lifetime. I currently work as an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Tennessee and utilize dung beetles as a model system of developmental plasticity.

My current postdoctoral research is focused on the kinematics of fish locomotion and integrates electromyography, 3D videography, and field observations to better understand the biomechanics and physiology of propulsion and intermittent locomotion in Bluegill Sunfish.

I am interested in the functional, ecological, and evolutionary morphology of organisms and how scientific modeling (e.g., 3D imaging and biomechanical modeling) aids in untangling the complexity intrinsic to the interaction between organisms and their environment. To pursue these interests, I studied the explanatory role and power of scientific models in functional morphology by completing an M.A. thesis in the philosophy of science. With a firm theoretical understanding of model building and deployment, I then studied the functional, ecological, and evolutionary morphology of Sea Lampreys for a Ph.D. in comparative anatomy under the guidance of Dr. Dominique G. Homberger at LSU, Baton Rouge. Through my Ph.D. research, I integrated field observations of spawning Sea Lampreys with an anatomical analysis of their trunk musculature by using microdissection, histology, and 3D imaging based on MRI to develop biomechanical models of trunk bending involved in locomotion. Since biomechanical models based on anatomical and behavioral data must be tested with physiological data about kinematics and muscle performance, after completing my Ph.D. in December 2019, I began post-doctoral research in January 2020 on Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis microchirus) to learn fish biomechanics, muscle physiology, electromyography, and field videography techniques under the guidance of Dr. Dave Ellerby at Wellesley College, MA. Upon completion of my post-doctoral research, I will use my broad training in comparative anatomy and physiology to develop a research program that integrates anatomy, physiology, and field observations to study the interplay between the structure and function of organisms.

I work on a set of projects examining how climate change is affecting invertebrates, especially insects. Current projects focus on the thermal ecology of plant-insect interactions, and an emerging new direction is aquatic insect ecophysiology.

Arthur Woods received a PhD at the University of Washington with advisor Joel Kingsolver. After a three-year postdoc at Arizona State University, he joined UT-Austin as a lecturer. Five years later (2006), Arthur joined faculty at the University of Montana, where he has served since.

My research involves developing new methods for integrating time series analysis and machine learning to better understand processes and mechanisms in complex systems (a framework called "Empirical Dynamic Modeling"). My work typically examines ecological change in populations and communities, though the methods are general in being able to reconstruct the temporal dynamics of any generic dynamical system; applications to other domains have included neuroscience, astrophysics, glacial climate cycles, medicine, and more.

I am a computational ecologist, with a background and degrees in computer science, experimental psychology, and oceanography. Currently, I am a postdoctoral associate and Moore Data fellow in the Weecology Lab at the University of Florida. I am involved in various activities to promote open science, as well as inclusion, equity, and accessibility in academia, including serving as a mentor for the Mozilla Open Leaders program, the upcoming Open Life Science program (https://openlifesci.org/), teaching Ally Skills workshops at my university as part of the Gainesville Ally Skills Network (https://alligatorallyskills.weebly.com/), and associate editor for Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Jeannette Yen is a Professor of Biology at Georgia Tech. Her Ph.D. is in interdisciplinary environmental science of biological oceanography where she studies how fluid mechanical and chemical cues transported at low Re flow serve as communication channels for micro-aquatic organisms, primarily zooplankton: key link in aquatic food webs.

Jeannette Yen
Center for Biologically Inspired Design at Georgia Tech
Jeannette is the Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design. The Center brings together a group of biologists, engineers, designers and physical scientists who seek to facilitate interdisciplinary research and education for innovative products and techniques based on biologically-inspired design solutions. The participants of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically-Inspired Design believe that science and technology are increasingly hitting the limits of approaches based on traditional disciplines, and Biology may serve as an untapped resource for design methodology, with concept-testing having occurred over millions of years of evolution. Experiencing the benefits of Nature as a source of innovative and inspiring principles encourages us to preserve and protect the natural world rather than simply to harvest its products. Jeannette team-teaches the interdisciplinary course in biologically inspired design [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMlvUJ9_GSk].
Jeannette Yen is a Professor of Biology and has been at Georgia Tech since 2000. Her Ph.D. is in interdisciplinary environmental science of biological oceanography where she studies how fluid mechanical and chemical cues transported at low Re flow serve as communication channels for micro-aquatic organisms, primarily zooplankton: key link in aquatic food webs. She has been to all 7 continents, including Antarctica for her research and education. [http://www.rh.gatech.edu/news/307781/antarctica-quest-bottom-food-chain]. She recently collaborated with Mel Chin where her plankton swim above Times Square as augmented