WARDER CLYDE ALLEE AWARD: BEST STUDENT PAPER
The Warder Clyde Allee Symposium for best student paper is always a highlight of the conference as it features outstanding graduate student research, with an award for the best paper and talk. The session honors Dr. Warder Clyde Allee (1885–1955) who was very influential in the development and direction of animal behavior research in the 20th century. Dr. Allee earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1912, was a faculty member at the University of Illinois, University of Oklahoma, University of Chicago, and University of Florida. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951 and ranks among the leading twentieth century ecologists. In the 2016 ABS Allee Session, 10 finalists were selected to present their research based on the quality of their papers. Any independent graduate student research is eligible, but the students must have had the principal responsibility for the conceptualization and design of the research, the collection and analysis of the data, and the interpretation of the results. These presenters also cannot have completed their defense of the doctoral dissertation before the preceding ABS annual meeting. The judges , Jeff Podos (Chair), John Swaddle, Karen Mabry, Oliver Beckers and Peggy Hill, found the papers and presentations to be of exceptionally high quality. First place was awarded to C. Nick Keiser (University of Pittsburgh) for his talk and paper entitled “Group composition begets conflicting dynamics of collective behavior and bacterial transmission”. Honorable mention was awarded to Natalia Borrego (University of Miami) for her talk and paper entitled “Social carnivores outperform asocial carnivores on an innovative problem”. | ![]() C. Nick Keiser (University of Pittsburgh) Natalia Borrego (University of Miami) receiving |
ETHEL TOBACH FOUNDERS MEMORIAL POSTER AWARD
receiving his Ethel Tobach Founders Memorial Poster Award.
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Each year a poster competition, named for a Founder of the Animal Behavior Society, is held at the annual meeting. A founder is defined as “A person active in the period prior to 1966 who held at least two administrative positions, elected or appointed, in ABS or the ESA Section on Animal Behavior and Sociobiology or the ASZ Division of Animal Behavior as recorded by the ABS Historian”. The Founders’ award is for outstanding posters presented at the annual meeting. This year the Founders Memorial Poster Competition was named to honour Ethel Tobach. The judges received 12 complete submissions. The judges were: William Searcy (Chair, First President Elect), Melissa Hughes, Gabriel Francescoli, and Diana Hews. There were several excellent posters, and a lot of great science shared. The judges identified one outstanding poster, notable for its innovative science, and clear presentation. The grand prize winner of the Founders Award for 2016 was: Jay A. Stafstrom (University of Nebraska - Lincoln) “Trade-offs Drive Dynamic Investment in Net-casting Spider Neuroanatomy”, with co-authors E. Hebets and P. Michalik. |
GENESIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE POSTER PRESENTATION
First presented at the 2000 ABS Annual meeting, the Genesis Award honors the best undergraduate poster presented at the meeting. This year 40 undergraduate students submitted posters for the Genesis Undergraduate Poster Competition, and the standard was extremely high. The judges included Matt Wund, Sarah Humfeld, Carrie Hall, Melissa Graham, Dan Howard, and Emilie Snell-Rood. This team worked extremely hard to carefully review all posters. The grand prize was awarded to Lauren Poon (University of California, Davis and Turner Awardee) for her poster entitled "Of noise and nests: Effects of anthropogenic noise on settlement patterns in Tachycineta bicolour” with co-authors A. Injaian, G. Patricelli. One honorable mention prize was awarded to Timothy Boycott (Vassar College) "Effects of deer browsing on sound propagation in northeastern temperate forests” with co-authors J. Gao, M. Gall.
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Lauren Poon (University of California, Genesis honorable mention prize being |
ABS FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
Now in its 33rd year, the ABS film festival featured top films that were produced in the preceding five years that portray important concepts in animal behavior research and education. Categories included both amateur (non-commercial) and professional (commercial) films. This year the film committee (Barbara Clucas and John Swaddle) received and reviewed 124 films (31 commercial; 93 non-commercial), a three-fold increase in submissions over the previous year.
After careful deliberation, the Film Committee was happy to announce that the ABS Jack Ward Film of the Year in the Non-Commercial category was “Discovering Animal Behavior” directed by Alberto Redondo.
The ABS Film of the Year in the Commercial category was “The Everglades: A Watery Wilderness” directed by Zoltan Török .
CHARLES H. TURNER AWARDS
In 2002, the Animal Behavior Society created the Charles H. Turner Program for undergraduate participation at the annual society meetings. Charles Turner was the first known African American researcher in animal behavior. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1907. Among other things, his research showed that insects can hear and exhibit trial-and-error learning. By naming the undergraduate program after him, the ABS Diversity Committee emphasizes its goal of increasing the diversity of its membership by encouraging researchers of all ages, levels and ethnic groups to participate in the annual meetings. The ABS Diversity committee selected twelve Charles H. Turner Fellows from the 55 highly qualified undergraduate applicants to bring to the Columbia meeting this year, covering all expenses and providing a full program of events including a pre-meeting workshop and direct mentorship from junior and senior scientists.
This years’ deserving Turner award winners were April Arquilla, The College of Wooster; Jacey Brooks, Oklahoma State University; Ebony Cadet, Cornell University; Sydney Chertoff, Canisius College; Alejandra Enriquez, New Mexico State University; Galen Gudenkauf, University of Arizona; Trey Johnson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Faith Lierheimer, University of Denver; Daniel Nondorf, University of Michigan; Allison Onofrio, University of New Hampshire; Kaylana Patterson, University of Puget Sound; Lauren Poon, University of California, Davis (2016 Genesis Poster Award Winner).
A special thanks goes to ABS Diversity Committee members Daniel R. Howard (DC Chairperson), Carrie L. Hall , Mia Phillips (University of New Hampshire) and Katheryn Crocker (University of Michigan) for putting together a day-long pre-conference workshop for these students and mentoring them throughout the conference.
2016 Charles H. Turner Award recipients and mentors.
ABS 5K FUN RUN 2016
Overall Winner: Polly Campbell, 20:49
First Male Finisher: Dave Gammon, 21:57
Thank you to the organizers Sarah Humfeld and Nathan Harness, and to all the great volunteers that didn’t let the participants get lost along the route!