ECoGSS 2020: Abstract Submission is Open!

Inviting all Graduate Students involved in conservation research!

Whether you are from ECo, MS3, OEB, or beyond, we want you to be involved in the 2020 ECo Graduate Student Symposium (ECoGSS). ECoGSS is a great space to present your conservation science research to friendly faces, whether you are just starting out in your graduate career or seasoned at attending conferences. The symposium, hosted by the Environmental Conservation Department, will be held in the Design Building on Friday, February 28th, 2020.

Abstracts for talks, posters, and discussion panels are due Friday, November 22nd, 2019. Submit your abstract here!

For further details and guidelines on abstract submissions, please visit: https://websites.umass.edu/ecogss/abstract-presentation-guidelines/

Please direct any questions to ecogss@umass.edu. We look forward to seeing your abstract!

ECoGSS 2020 — Save the Date!

The ECoGSS organizing committee is excited to announce ECoGSS 2020! The next iteration of our symposium will be held February 28, 2020, in the Design Building of the UMass Amherst campus. Details about abstract submissions will follow shortly — stay tuned!

We’re actively seeking nominations for the ECoGSS 2020 keynote speaker. Nominate a keynote speaker here!

We can’t wait to see you all again this year!

 

Searching for Student Moderators for ECoGSS 2019 Workshops

Hello ECoGSS affiliated gradate students!

ECoGSS 2019 will be featuring three new workshops as part of our program this year, run by conservation professionals, UMass faculty, and (potentially) you! Please look at our google form below to see the workshop themes and sign up to moderate your workshop of choice. This is a great opportunity to organize and moderate a workshop with local stakeholders!

Google form link: https://goo.gl/forms/IUulNYeFxwpaGk6r1

ECoGSS 2019 – Call for Abstracts

Calling all ECo-affiliated Graduate Students!

Whether you hail from ECo, MS3, OEB, or anywhere else, we want you to be involved in the 2019 ECo Graduate Student Symposium (ECOGSS). We have been hard at work this summer organizing for the event.  Now we need your help!  Are you ready to share with the rest of the department the research that you’ve been hard at work on?  Do you have an environmental conservation topic that you are passionate about discussing with your peers?  ECOGSS is perfect place for you to do this.  The symposium will be held in the new Design Building on Thursday, January 24th and Friday, January 25th, 2019.  There will be five different ways for you to actively participate in the symposium: traditional talks, lightning talks, a poster session, discussion panels, and workshops.

1) Traditional talks will be allotted a 15-minute time slot, preferably 12 minutes for your talk followed by three minutes for questions.  This is a great opportunity to develop and present a talk that you may give at larger conference later in the year.

2) Lightning talks will be allotted 5-minutes, with a question and answer period at the end of a group of talks.  Lightning talks will help you communicate your research efficiently and effectively.  Now’s your chance to hone that elevator pitch!

3) Posters will be on display during the symposium and there will be an interactive poster session for discussing your work.  This is a great opportunity to get feedback on your study design and sampling plan, discuss analyses, share the work being done in your lab, or show off those hot off the press ggplot graphics. More details on posters attached!

4) Discussion panels are a unique opportunity to collaborate with other graduate students and generate interest and ideas on topics that transcend the department.  Panels will consist of 3-4 people, last approximately 45 minutes, and can be on a topic of your choosing.  Some example topics include: science communication, climate change, or animal tracking.  You may submit as a group or as an individual interested in participating.  Get brainstorming!

5) Workshops provide an opportunity for students to identify and acquire useful knowledge and skills that are applicable across different disciplines. We will work with students, professors, and  community partners to select topics for and plan these workshops. Feel free to submit any ideas you may have!

Abstract and panel topic submissions are due FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th.  To allow opportunities for all interested graduate students, you may apply to present in two of the above formats, exception being you cannot apply to present two kinds of talks (1 & 2). Students in Research Concepts (ECO 601) will be presenting talks in December, and are encouraged to present posters or wait until next year’s symposium to give talks. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

Form for submitting talk abstracts:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJ0xnT8X4IUX_pEGunNDnvzec95UxP3fSDIfr4IEHdpy0xCQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Form for submitting poster abstracts:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf3i6QCnQ0xuT_RH_I-ZEqoqiTYNIF_ev0XiTvvKlT3SM2O5w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Form for submitting panel ideas:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzr2aZqr7IZ5RT_qeNLSZtdECQwCS6OMeOJixaEzhsQo2Z3A/viewform?usp=sf_link

Please contact us with any questions: ecogss@umass.edu

ECoGSS 2019 Planning Underway – Nominate Keynote Speakers Now!

The 2019 ECoGSS Organizing Committee has started planning the 2019 meeting. Current plans are for the meeting to take place in late January 2019.

We are currently accepting nominations for Keynote Speakers for the 2019 meeting. If you would like to nominate someone, please send us an email at ecogss@umass.edu. In your email please include the nominee’s NAME, CONTACT, STATE, WEBSITE/DESCRIPTION OF THEIR WORK. Make sure to check they meet the requirements below! Nominations will close August 15th, 2018.

To qualify, Keynote Nominations must meet the following requirements:

  • Keynote nominations must be someone within a 5 hour driving distance to Amherst, MA.
  • Not retired but is still actively working in the field (graduated pre-2010)
  • Keynote should be able to speak on their transition from grad school to the field

Keep your eye on emails from us for further updates!

2019 ECoGSS Planning Committee

Thank you!

Hello Everyone,

We wanted to thank everyone from our Department who came out to support our very first Environmental Conservation Graduate Student Symposium (ECoGSS) on Jan 26-27. We had a total of 108 people come for the first day of the symposium. To kick off the day, we had an inspiring keynote presentation given by Dr. Chris Neill, which was followed by a mix of panel discussions, lightning talks, and traditional talks by the graduate students. Near the end of the day, we had 9 special guests (legislators and federal and state agency directors) introduce themselves and interact with students and faculty. For the second day, we had 42 people, and we concluded our Symposium with a potluck and award ceremony. This was an impressive turnout! All of our invited guests were also genuinely excited to be there and impressed with the talks and panels put on by the students.

Congrats again to our first and second place winners!

First Places:
Mariela Garcia Arrendondo, Traditional Talk: Rhizogenic weathering impacts on deep soil carbon
Grace Casselberry, Traditional Talk: Exploring temporal changes in the spatial use of a Caribbean marine protected area by four shark species
Donovan Drummey, Lightning Talk: Estimating American marten density in New Hampshire
Evan Kuras, Traditional Talk: Connecting to nature in and out of school
George LoCascio, Traditional Talk: Plant sperm kills parasite in bumblebee guts

Second Places:
Tierney Bosci, Lighting Talk: A breakeven point: The costs and benefits of planting street trees
Bia Dias, Traditional Talk: A marine ecosystem perspective of the anadromous forage fish role
Lian Guo, Traditional Talk: Measuring otolith growth to infer river herring physiology
Benjamin Padilla, Traditional Talk: Is there a general decision framework for quantifying urbanization gradients?
Kate McClellan Press, Traditional Talk: Response of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris, to electric fields produced by an experimental submarine power cable across a tidal creek, Eleuthera, The Bahamas

With ECoGSS event we successfully accomplished the following goals:

  1. Encourage student-faculty and student-student collaborations and camaraderie in the ECo Department
  2. Provide a setting for graduate students to practice their speaking skills for professional conferences and enable students to receive feedback from peers and faculty
  3. Showcase the diversity of research in the ECo Department (ECo, IMS, OEB and MS graduate programs)
Again thank you for being part of making this first ECoGSS a SUCCESS!
The ECoGSS Committee
 

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