ELPC Science Advisory Council

ELPC created a volunteer Science Advisory Council in order to access expertise of top-rate scientists, obtaintheir guidance and scientific thinking, and expand our networks to reach out to other scientists and graduate students who can help us on a pro bono basis for projects where their specific knowledge is needed.

ELPC’s senior program staff and board meet with the members of the Science Advisory Council twice each year to strategize and infuse up-to-date scientific thinking into ELPC’s key strategic legal, eco-business and policy decisionmaking process. The first seven members of the ELPC Science Advisory Council are stellar. They have expressed strong interest in working with ELPC and add intelligence and stature:

Marilu Hastings is a science policy specialist, who is Director, Office of Science, Technology & Policy Integration at the Houston Area Research Center (HARC). Marilu is currently focused on climate change and sustainable development issues. She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. She received her Bachelor of Arts in economics and political science from Duke University. She is a doctoral student in political science at the University of Houston. Please see her bio: http://www.harc.edu/About/People/Staff/mhastings

Debra Moskovits, Ph.D is the Senior Vice President of Environment, Culture, and Conservation and the Director of Environmental and Conservation Programs at the Field Museum of Chicago. Dr. Moskovits began her scientific work studying the behavioral ecology of birds, primates, and tortoises—primarily in the tropics. After joining the Field Museum staff, she developed public exhibitions on ecology, evolution, and conservation. Please see her bio: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/museum_info/executive_profiles_mosk.htm

Professor Knute Nadelhoffer is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan and serves as the Director of the University of Michigan Biological Station at Pellston. He was previously a Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA) and Program Director at the National Science Foundation’s Ecosystem Studies Program. Professor Nadelhoffer’s fields of study are ecosystem ecology, terrestrial biogeochemistry and global change. Please see his bio: http://www.eeb.lsa.umich.edu/eeb/people/knute/index.html

Professor Jonathan Patz (M.D., M.P.H) is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences & Director of Global Environmental Health at the University of Wisconsin. He is also an Affiliate Scientist of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He co-chaired the health sector expert panel of the US National Assessment on Climate Variability and Change. Please see his bio: http://www.sage.wisc.edu/people/patz/patz.html

Professor Barbara Peckarsky is a Professor Emeritus of Entomology and Stream Ecology at Cornell University and an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Zoology and Adjunct Professor of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin. She is a Senior Researcher at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Professor Peckarsky served as Editor of Ecology (1997-2000), which is the publication of the Ecological Society of America. Please see her bio: http://www.zoology.wisc.edu/faculty/Peckarsky/Peckarsky.htm

Professor Don Scavia is a Professor of Natural Resources and Environment and Director of the Michigan Sea Grant Program at the University of Michigan and serves on the Executive Committee for the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and the Graham Environmental Sustainability. Professor Scavia served as the Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service. Please see his bio: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/scavia/scavia_home

Professor Donald M. Waller is a Professor of Botany and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin and is the Director of the Waller Lab Group. His research focuses on threats to plant and animal diversity and the impacts of deer browsing and invasive species. Dr. Waller is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served as an Associate Editor for Oecologia and Ecology Letters, Editor-in-Chief of Evolution, and President, Society for the Study of Evolution. Please see his bio: http://www.botany.wisc.edu/waller/peoplepages/Waller/Wallerpage.html

The Science Advisory Council engages leading Midwest scientists in ELPC’s public policy formulation and strategies. For example, the team of ELPC public interest environmental attorneys and the scientists (led by Professor Don Waller) on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest protection cases has been very successful. The Council broadens ELPC’s knowledge and relationship capacities in order to help better shape and advance our environmental agenda.

We can also expand ELPC’s network of talent and policy influence by engaging senior-level scientist advisors and graduate students whose research can be linked to ELPC’s environmental policy solution initiatives. Over time, we hope to increase the talent pool and effectively leverage ELPC’s relationships with scientists and their research to build more successes on the policy side. For example, is there research underway at the University of Michigan Biological Station or the Field Museum of Chicago that could be better linked to and more usefully applied to influence policy decisionmaking? Should there be professorial sabbatical and post-graduate fellowship opportunities for scientists at ELPC?

The formal meetings of the ELPC Science Advisory Council with ELPC’s senior staff and Board have taken place in Chicago on February 14, 2007, September 25, 2007 and May 1, 2008. The fourth meeting is scheduled for September 2008.