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 2019 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. First place was awarded to Sara Lipshutz (Indiana University) for her talk and paper entitled “Female competition promotes hybridization between sex-role reversed species” First runner-up was awarded to Erin Brandt (University of California, Berkeley) for her talk and paper entitled “Effects of temperature on ecology, behavior, and physiology in a desert-dwelling jumping spider" | 
First runner-up was awarded to Erin Brandt (University of California, Berkeley), and Judge Esteban Fernandez-Juricic. |
FOUNDERS MEMORIAL POSTER AWARD
The two runners-up with chair, Jennifer Fewell. From the top: Yuri Kawaguchi (Kyoto University), and Mary Woodruff (Indiana University, Bloomington). |
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. The 2019 Founders’ Award Poster competition received 59 initial submissions. The judges included: Jennifer Fewell (chair), Dan Blumstein, Susan Bertram, Robert Curry, Karen Kapheim, Molly Morris, Alex Ophir, Trevor Price, Julia Saltz, and Noah Snyder-Mackler. The grand prize winner of Founders Award for 2019 was Manuel Araya-Salas (Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San Jose) for the poster “Song cultural evolution over five decades in a lekking hummingbird.”(Not Photographed)
There were two runners-up: Mary Woodruff (Indiana University, Bloomington) for “Why Are Some Animals Thriving in Heat? An Organismal Approach in a Bird Expanding South,” and Yuri Kawaguchi (Kyoto University) for “Chimpanzees, but not bonobos, attend more to infant than adult conspecifics.” |
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 37 undergraduate students submitted posters for the Genesis Undergraduate Poster Competition, and the standard was extremely high. Sixteen judges (Deborah Boege-Tobin, E. Dale Broder, Anne Clark, Karyn Collie, Crista Coppola, Sean Ehlman, Carrie Hall, E. Chadwick Johnson, David Logue, Susan Margulis, Jennifer Mather, Misty McPhee, Laura Sirot, Dale Stevens, Clara Voorhees, Matthew Wund) worked hard to carefully review all posters. The 1st prize was awarded to Lilly Hollingsworth (University of California, Riverside) for the poster entitled “Male Allen's Hummingbirds Hold Mating Territories with Abundant Food Sources.” Jessica Riojas (Iowa State University) received 2nd prize for “Mirror-Induced Behavior in Paper-Wasps: Is an Insect Capable of Self-Recognition?” Third prize went to Aaron Rose (Texas A&M University) for the poster "Calcium hydroxide may promote hybridization in a freshwater fish”. Honorable mention was awarded to Annika Ruppert (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities) for the poster "A Behavioral Study of Brain Lateralization in Frogs: Does a Right Ear Advantage Bias Phonotaxis?", to Aaron Wikle (St. Ambrose University) for "A new vibrational sexual signal in a field cricket", Alison Osbrink-McInroy "Effects of Traffic Noise on Zebra Finch Problem-Solving Performance", and to David Wilkerson-Lindsey (University of Illinois) for "Effects of Parental Care on Offspring Behavior in Threespined Stickleback"
|
First runner up Jessica Riojas (Iowa State University), and Award Chair, Matthew Wund.
Aaron Rose (Texas A&M University), and Award Chair, Matthew Wund. |
ABS FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
Now in its 36th 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, Cassandra Nunez, John Swaddle, Chris Templeton, and Michael Noonan) received 44 film submissions that were ranked based on their accuracy, quality of narration, quality of videography, degree of anthropomorphism, and overall appeal. They narrowed the field down to one commercial film and one non-commercial film.
After careful deliberation, and input from all audience members the Film Committee was happy to announce that the ABS Jack Ward Film of the Year in the Non-Commercial category was “Now or Never” directed by Matt Senior. The ABS Film of the Year in the Commercial category was “Power of Play” directed by Erin Oakes.
2019 ABS CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD
Stories and pictures illustrate science in an exciting way. This year the Animal Behavior Society recognized one winner and four finalists through our Outstanding Children’s Book Award program. These books are targeted to children in grades 3-5 (ages 8-11). Inspire a future scientist by giving one of these as a gift or by encouraging your school or public library to acquire these titles.
The Animal Behavior Society will soon be soliciting books for next year’s award. Interested publishers should contact the committee chair Crista Coppola (E-mail: [email protected]).
Outstanding Children’s Book Award Winner
The winner of the 2019 Oustanding Children's Book Award is Maggie: Alaska’s Last Elephant by Jennifer Keats Curtis and Illustrated by Phyllis Saroff, Arbordale Publishing. Maggie is based on the story of Maggie, who was indeed the last elephant in the Alaska Zoo, and who was moved to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in California.. Elephants are social animals. Maggie and Annabelle used to live together at the Alaska Zoo. But after Annabelle died, Maggie was all alone. For years, zookeepers tried to keep her happy (and warm). But ultimately they sent Maggie to live at a sanctuary (PAWS). Now she is happy and at home with her new herd of other elephants. This is a heartwarming story of how zoos ensure the best for the animals in their care—even if the best is not at their zoo.
Outstanding Children’s Book Award Finalists
A Frog’s life written by Irene Kelly and illustrated by Margherita Borin, Holiday House
The Hyena Scientist by Sy Montgomery and pictures by Nic Bishop, Houghton Mifflin in the Scientist in the Field series
The Seal Garden by Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read, Orca Books
The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat by Lawrence Pringle and Illustrated by Kate Garchinsky, Penguin/Random House in the Secret Life series
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 to bring to the Chicago 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 year’s deserving Turner award winners were Alina Iwan (Elon University), Annias Muschett-Bonilla (Texas A&M University College), Catherine Wu (University of California Los Angeles), David Wilkerson-Lindsay (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Ellen Dyer (University of California Davis), Imani Smith (Mills College), Jenna Morales (Colorado State University Pueblo), Jessica Riojas (Iowa State University), Kerry Stith (Penn State Behrend), Quincy Milton III (Clark University), Tiffani Smith (Canisius College), and Valerie Brewer (New Mexico State University).
Special thanks goes to ABS Diversity Committee members Daniel R. Howard (DC Chairperson), and Carrie L. Hall for putting together a day-long pre-conference workshop for these students and mentoring them throughout the conference.
3 MINUTE THESIS COMPETITION
Pictured: Ashton Dickerson, Richa Singh
The Public Affairs Committee organized the third annual 3 MT competition at the meeting this year. The following description is taken from the creator’s website: “Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students around the world. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Presenting in a 3MT competition increases their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. Competitors are allowed one PowerPoint slide, but no other resources or props”. We encourage all graduate students to consider participating in this event , particularly if they have fewer outreach opportunities at their home institution. Please email [email protected] to register for next year.
This year’s first place winner was Georgia Longmoor (University of Edinburgh). Second place went to Ashton Dickerson (University of Melbourne), and third place went to Richa Singh (Indian institute of Science Education and Research Mohali). The judges also chose a runner-up: Katherine Compitus (New York University).