NRS Seminar Series

NRS 600: Grad Seminar

NRS Grad Seminar 2009
Past Abstracts

Ecology Seminar Series

The speakers in the Ecological Seminar Series present an ecologically-themed research seminar of general interest to faculty, students, and the larger university community. This annual seminar series was initiated in 2007 by ecologists throughout the College of the Environment and Life Sciences to achieve the following goals: (1) increase interdepartmental communication and coordination; (2) enhance the graduate student/research atmosphere for scientists interested in ecology; and (3) bring in prominent researchers whom we would not normally get to host. The Ecological Seminar Series is generously funded by most of the Departments within CELS, the CELS Dean, and anonymous private individuals.

The seminars are free, open to the public, and take place at 3-4 PM on selected Mondays in Weaver Auditorium at the Coastal Institute in Kingston. Immediately after the seminar, there will be some opportunity to hang out with the visiting scholar and our colleagues over snacks and drinks. Each visiting scholar spends at least one day at URI; their schedule includes a lunch with graduate students as well as individual or small-group meetings with interested faculty, staff, and students. Some speakers will be on campus for longer periods of time; their visits may include field trips, evening events, etc.

The list of speakers and topics from current and past Ecological Seminar Series:

Fall 2007 ESS
Spring 2008 ESS
Fall 2008 ESS
Spring 2009 ESS

Upcoming Ecology Seminars

10/6/08: Bernd Blossey, Cornell University "How deer, worms, slugs, and invasive plants are changing northeastern forests" (Host: Dick Casagrande, PLS)
11/3/08: Charles Yarish, University of Connecticut "Exploring food webs in aquaculture systems" (Host: Carol Thornber, BIO)
12/1/08: Larissa Bailey, USGS "Influence of habitat and competitors on species distributional dynamics" (Host: Peter Paton, NRS)
2/2/09: Allison Snow, The Ohio State University: "Consequences of gene flow from genetically engineered crops to weeds" (Host: Laura Meyerson, NRS)
3/2/09: Jennifer Caselle, UC Santa Barbara "Design and evaluation of marine protected area networks" (Host: Dave Bengston, FAVS)
4/6/09: Oswald Schmitz, Yale University (Ledermann Lecture) "The importance of conserving biodiversity for ecosystem sustainability" (Host: Jason Grear, US EPA)