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Meetings Committee

The ESA Meetings Committee seeks to advance the Society’s mission and goals through convening ecologists. The Committee is responsible for supporting the Governing Board and management in long-term strategy and planning for the Annual Meeting. The Meetings Committee is responsible for: 

  • Oversees the roles of conferences (regional and national) in supporting ecologists throughout their careers
  • Ensuring that the Annual Meeting remains relevant to scientists, meets the needs of Society members, and furthers the Society’s goals
  • Prioritizing the revenue targets established by the Governing Board when planning future Annual Meetings
  • Recommending guidelines related to the Annual Meeting
  • Annually reviewing the results of the Annual Meeting
  • Three years in advance of each meeting they appoint Program Co-Chairs. The Committee makes the Governing Board aware of this appointment each Spring. 
  • Provides guidance and support to regional meetings

Composition

  • Co-chairs: Immediate Past Program Co-Chairs and Future Meetings Chair
  • Members:
    1. Current and future designated Program Co-Chairs
    2. Student Section member
    3. (2) At Large members
    4. Governing Board member
    5. Others as appointed

Committee Members

  • Kiona Ogle, Northern Arizona University, Committee Co-Chair (2024–2026)
  • Greg Goldsmith, Chapman University, Committee Co-Chair, 2024 Program Chair (2022-2025)
  • Meghan Avolio, Johns Hopkins University, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023-2026)
  • Naupaka Zimmerman, University of San Francisco, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023-2026)
  • Andrea Swei, San Francisco State University, 2026 Co-Program Chair (2024-2027)
  • Daniel Stover, U.S. Department of Energy, 2026 Co-Program Chair (2024-2027)
  • Gretchen North, Occidental College, 2024 Local Host (2022-2025)
  • Shelby Rinehart, Drexel University, Member at Large (2024-2027)
  • Chelsea Little, Simon Fraser University, Member at Large (2024-2027)
  • Yude Pan, USDA Forest Service, ex officio member, Governing Board Member (2024-2027)

Meeting Times

  • Meets once per month, convenes in person at the annual meeting. All day planning meeting in the spring.

Program Subcommittee

The Program Subcommittee is responsible for developing the current year’s Annual Meeting program. The Subcommittee works closely with the Director of Conventions & Meetings. The responsibilities of the Program Subcommittee include:

  • Provide input on selection of the plenary speakers.
  • Approve calls for invited sessions, hands on session, and abstracts.
  • After peer review of paper sessions are completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
  • After acceptance decisions are made, scheduling sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics.
  • Review the meeting evaluation.

Composition Requirements

  • Chairs: Current, immediate past, and future designated Program Co-Chairs
  • Members: others as appointed

Subcommittee Members

  • Meghan Avolio, Johns Hopkins University, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023-2026)
  • Naupaka Zimmerman, University of San Francisco, 2025 Co-Program Chair (2023-2026)
  • Greg Goldsmith, Chapman University, 2024 Program Chair (2022-2025)
  • Andrea Swei, San Francisco State University, 2026 Co-Program Chair (2024-2027)
  • Daniel Stover, U.S. Department of Energy, 2026 Co-Program Chair (2024-2027)
  • Ivette Perfecto, University of Michigan, Member at Large (2023-2026)
  • Laura Pomi-Urbat, GEI Member at Large (2023-2026)
  • Veronica Tangiri, Prince William (VA) Soil and Water Conservation District, Member at Large (2023-2026)

Meeting Times

Monthly meetings coinciding with the release of calls for submissions, the receipt of submissions, and the subsequent scheduling of sessions.

Program Co-Chairs

Monthly meetings coinciding with the release of calls for submissions, the receipt of submissions, and the subsequent scheduling of sessions.

The Annual Meeting Program Co-Chairs are responsible for leading the program committee in defining the scientific program, including selecting plenary speakers, accepting proposed sessions, and managing abstract reviews. The Co- Chairs responds to issues concerning the program development, recommends new approaches, and identifies opportunities to improve the scientific program and coordinates the efforts of many volunteers to build the scientific program. The Program Co-Chairs are not expected to manage the logistical details of the meeting or deal with vendors, including hotels, convention centers, or other service providers. ESA staff are responsible for managing logistics, dealing with service providers, and communicating with attendees. Responsibilities of the Program Co-Chairs:

  • Propose a meeting theme to the governing board.
  • In consultation with the committee select and invite the scientific plenary speaker (in even-numbered years; the MacArthur Lecture is given in odd numbered years),
  • Participate in committee to select the New Phytologist lecturer (New Phytologist is the lead), and coordinate all plenary speakers to provide a robust and diverse program.
  • Lead all Program Committee conference calls (goal to hold these monthly).
  • Lead the decision-making process for paper session acceptance after peer review is completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
  • Lead the final acceptance decisions about contributed abstracts that have been peer reviewed by the annual meeting abstract review subcommittee.
  • Oversee the scheduling of sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics reviews in consultation with the rest of the Program Committee
  • Lead the committee in proactively promoting the meeting to relevant communities
  • Co-chair the Meetings Committee the year after the chaired meeting.
  • Attend Meetings Committee business meetings (Spring and on-site at the meeting) for three years (before, during, and after the chaired year).
  • Work with the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) section in developing a land acknowledgement for the meeting location.
  • Encourage submission of field trip proposals, including reaching out to local contacts when the call for proposals is open.
  • Recommend a local organization to receive environmental offset funds. The recommendation should be submitted to the Governing Board in the spring of the meeting year.

Annual Meeting Abstract Review Subcommittee (AMARC)

The AMARC is responsible for providing peer review of abstracts that have been submitted to the annual meeting and coordinates accordingly with the Program Subcommittee. The responsibilities of this committee include:

  • Generate and maintain guidelines for best practices for peer review in collaboration with the program subcommittee.
  • Provide training opportunities for committee members to ensure high quality peer review.
  • Provide peer review for contributed and latebreaking abstracts.

Advise program subcommittee on submission and review guidelines to improve the peer review process.

Composition Requirements

30 members serving three-year terms on a rotating basis.

  • Chair: A member of the program subcommittee who does not also serve on the meetings committee
  • Members: Current ESA members who represent the diversity of ecological science presented at the annual meeting

Subcommittee Members

  • Kimberly Komatsu, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Subcommittee Co-Chair (2023-2026)
  • Shelby Rinehart, Drexel University, Subcommittee Co-Chair (2024-2027)
  • Toby Adjuik, Iowa State University (2023-2026)
  • Joshua Ajowele, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2023-2026)
  • Kaysee Arrowsmith, University of Texas at Austin (2023-2026)
  • Cole Brookson, Georgetown University (2023-2026)
  • Yifeng Cao, Louisiana State University (2023-2026)
  • Doug Causey, University of Alaska at Anchorage (2023-2026)
  • Jennifer Chandler, West Chester University of Pennsylvania (2023-2026)
  • Elizabeth Cook, Barnard University (2023-2026)
  • Amanda da Silva, University of Michigan/Federal University of ABC (2023-2026)
  • Iolanda da Silva, University of California at Merced (2023-2026)
  • Rae Fadlovich, USU (2023-2026)
  • Scott Fordham, USGS (2023-2026)
  • TJ Francisco, Stanford University (2023-2026)
  • Savannah Fuqua, University of Arizona (2023-2026)
  • Alison Gerken, USDA (2023-2026)
  • Hannah Goemann, Montana State University (2023-2026)
  • Daniela Guzman, Senckenberg Institute (2023-2026)
  • Sheryl Hosler, University of Illinois, Chicago (2023-2026)
  • Madeline Jarvis-Cross, University of Toronto (2023-2026)
  • Saheed Jimoh, University of Wyoming (2023-2026)
  • Jurek Kolasa, McMaster University (2023-2026)
  • Enzo Martellimoya, University of Montana (2023-2026)
  • Kit McLean, University of Michigan (2023-2026)
  • Nicholas Medina, Morton Arboretum (2023-2026)
  • Scott Meiners, Eastern Illinois University (2023-2026)
  • Margaret Metz, Lewis and Clark College (2023-2026)
  • Ashlee Mikkelsen, University of Southeastern Norway (2023-2026)
  • Rajendra Mohan Panda, University of South Florida (2023-2026)
  • Nia Morales, University of Florida (2023-2026)
  • Taofeek Muraina, Texas State University (2023-2026)
  • Kenneth Oppon, University of Alberta (2023-2026)
  • Wendy Owens-Rios, Rochester Institute of Tech/SUNY Geneseo (2023-2026)
  • Ryan Pienaar, Brigham Young University (2023-2026)
  • Yanning Qiu, Wageningen University (2023-2026)
  • Chase  Rakowski, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2023-2026)
  • Deusdedith Rugemalila, Florida International University (2023-2026)
  • Steve Rust, Nature’s Capital (2023-2026)
  • Samuel Rycroft, University of Western Ontario (2023-2026)
  • Courtney Siegert, Mississippi State University (2023-2026)
  • Trifosa Simamora, Cornell University (2023-2026)
  • Bruno Soares, University of Regina (2023-2026)
  • Jack Sytsma, Kansas State University (2023-2026)
  • Pattama Ulrich, The Ohio State University (2023-2026)
  • Pete Wade, NA (2023-2026)
  • Alyssa Willson, University of Notre Dame (2023-2026)
  • Carolina Zamorano-Montanez, Universidad de Caldas y Manizales (2023-2026)

Meeting Times

Ad hoc, generally asynchronous