By Steward Pickett, BES
To acknowledge the broad community that contributes to and manages the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, we have officially added four people as official Co-Principal Investigators:
Dr. Mary L. Cadenasso, Associate Professor of Ecology at the University of California, Davis will promote synthesis and conceptual development in BES. Mary is a landscape ecologist, was one of the co-authors of the original BES proposal and led the development of the HERCULES urban land classification system.
Dr. Peter M. Groffman, Senior Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, is now Deputy Director, in recognition of his management of the budget. Peter is a microbial ecologist and also contributes to the management of stream sampling and analysis.
Dr. J. Morgan Grove, Research Forester with the USDA Forest Service, will facilitate interaction between BES and the Northern Research Station, which is a major contributor of research and education staff and support for their work. Dr. Grove has been working as a social ecologist in Baltimore since 1989.
Dr. Claire Welty, Director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, will help formalize relationships with our host institution in Baltimore. UMBC provides lab and office space, meeting space, and intellectual partnership. Claire is a hydrologist with interest in ground water dynamics.
These new Co-PIs are jointly listed with the Lead Principal Investigator and Project Director, Steward T.A. Pickett of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, on the cover page of the the National Science Foundation’s BES III grant.
The new Co-PIs are ongoing members of the Project Management Committee (PMC) which meets monthly throughout the calendar year. The PMC administers BES with yearly input from the Steering Committee, a meeting open to all members of the BES community. The PMC consists of representatives from several institutions that are central to the management of the project, including the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies as the main grantee organization, the UMBC as the local host institution, the USDA Forest Service as a provider of significant numbers of research staff and associated material support, and the Parks & People Foundation, which facilitates community and decision maker engagement.
Other members of the PMC bring specific expertise or perspectives to project management, including budgetary management, conceptual and empirical synthesis, social sciences, environmental economics, aquatic sciences, the graduate student community, education research, education programming, information management, and administration. There is a seat on the committee that is filled by a different member from BES each year. This rotating position is intended to increase the breadth of participation in the committee, familiarize a larger number of BES participants with project management, and to inject new perspectives into the deliberations of the committee. Full membership in the PMC through November 2011 is as follows:
- Dr. Alan Berkowitz, Head of Education, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook NY
- Ms Holly Beyar, BES Project Facilitator, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Dr. M.L. Cadneasso, University of California, Davis
- Ms Bess Caplan, Ecology Education Program Leader, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (office at Parks & People Foundation, Baltimore)
- Ms Jacqueline Carrera, President and CEO, Parks & People Foundation, Baltimore
- Dr. Peter M. Groffman, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Dr. J. Morgan Grove, PMC Committee Chair, USDA Forest Service
- Mr. Guy Hager, Senior Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
- Dr. Elena Irwin, Rotating Member 2010-2011, Ohio State University
- Ms Tamara Newcomer, Graduate Student Representative, University of Maryland, College Park
- Dr. Steward T.A. Pickett, BES Lead Principal Investigator and Project Director, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies,
- Mr. Jonathan M. Walsh, Information Manager, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Dr. Mary Washington, Associate Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities, Parks & People Foundation
- Dr. Claire Welty, Director, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, UMBC
Past members include Dr. William R. Burch, Yale University; Dr. Larry E. Band, University of North Carolina; Dr. Robert Costanza, University of Vermont; Dr. Christopher M. Swan, UMBC; Dr. Andrew Miller, UMBC; Dr. Richard V. Pouyat, USDA Forest Service; Mr. Kenneth Belt, USDA Forest Service; Dr. Geoffrey Buckley, Ohio University; Kirsten Schwarz, then of Rutgers University.