Executive Director

Abstract

What an exciting year for ESA! It was my honor to represent ESA at a White House ceremony and accept the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), the highest award of this kind in the United States. ESA, the only Society out of the 11 winners, was recognized for its excellent SEEDS program. You can imagine how proud I felt on behalf of the Education and Diversity staff, the students, and the mentors who make this exceptional program such a success. This year saw many exciting changes to our publications. Frontiers began a new online prepress publication site, Frontiers e-View, to allow more rapid publication than possible in print publication. We are publishing papers faster in the other journals as well. Reports (Ecology) and Communications (Ecological Applications) have been given new looks, and papers in these sections routinely appear less than a year from submission. These sections are now Open Access and there is no charge for color figures. ESA Journals Online also has a fresh look and greater functionality. We now offer pay-per-view and “mini-subscription” options for nonsubscribers. All our journals can be found in JSTOR, where the moving wall has been reduced from four to two years. In addition, we are pleased that our journals are now certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as meeting their rigorous standards for using paper stocks that foster sustainable use of forest resources. Also exciting was the addition of podcasts, which take advantage of featured articles in our journals. Our Annual Meeting in 2008, with its education theme, is featuring a special day designed for educators that will provide a series of activities for K–12 teachers to help them explore how to use ecological issues in classroom research. Funding will support the participation of many of the educators. Another new education activity is a pilot workshop this fall to introduce continental-scale date in undergraduate courses and investigate the opportunities for teaching and learning that large-scale data can offer. Science and Public Affairs Offices have also had notable successes. The topic for the first Millennium Conference has been announced; Water–Ecosystem Services, Drought and Environmental Justice will take place in the fall of 2009. An ESA biofuels conference attracted 330 attendees and was followed by a two-day workshop for 45 participants. A web site with information about biofuels was established, and a number of products, including a collection of papers by the conference speakers, are being prepared. Briefings in the House and Senate featured speakers from the conference and reached 115 congressional and federal agency staff. The Society's visibility was enhanced with two additional congressional briefings this year which dealt with After the Fire: Approaches to Revitalizing Ecosystem Resources, and Climate Change and Wildlife and Ecosystem Responses. These briefings and numerous articles in our journals were highlighted in press releases widely distributed to the scientific and popular press. On a personal note, I am honored to serve as the Vice President of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE) and will become President of the organization next July. CESSE is my professional society, and being elected to these roles gives me great pride and also provides visibility for ESA in the engineering and scientific society community. In conclusion, ESA's membership is solid, our programs expanding, our publications evolving, and our finances are sound. We are in a great position to face the challenges of the future!