ENS Speakers 2003

Margaret Voss:

Margaret Voss is an assistant professor in biology at Penn State Erie. Her research interests are in the areas of physiological ecology and animal behavior. The work currently being done in her lab focuses on the ways in which noise pollution adversely affects the breeding behavior, reproductive physiology, and embryonic development of North American song birds.

Dr. Voss received her B.S. and M.S in Environmental and Forest Biology from SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry and her Ph.D. in Biology from Syracuse University.
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Jill Singer:

Jill Singer is a sedimentologist and professor in the Earth Sciences Department at Buffalo State College. Her teaching and research focus on the physical processes of sediment transport. As a local environmental activist, she uses her geological background to address environmental problems, often involving her students in local environmental research projects.

From 2001-2003, she took a two-year leave of absence to serve as a Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. She is currently serving as President of the Council of Undergraduate Research, a national organization that provides opportunities for faculty development and helps administrators to improve and assess the research environments of their institutions. At Buffalo State College, she coordinates several college-wide undergraduate research programs including an annual student research and creativity celebration and a summer research fellowship program. In 2000 and 2001, she directed the College's NCUR/Lancy program, an interdisciplinary research program involving 24 undergraduates and four faculty mentors and focusing on environmental changes in Buffalo during the past century.
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Barry Rock:

Barry Rock received his bachelor's degree in botany from the University of Vermont and master's and doctoral degrees, also in botany, from the University of Maryland. Dr. Rock then taught in the Biology Department at Alfred University for 9 years before becoming a group leader at the Geobotanical Remote Sensing Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

In 1987, Dr. Rock joined the faculty at the University of New Hampshire, where he is a professor today. Dr. Rocks research has focussed on remote sensing of vegetation, specifically on basic and applied research dealing with biophysical properties (pigment concentrations, anatomical characteristics, and moisture conditions) of leaves and their influence on reflectance features which may be remotely detected.

Dr. Rock has been involved in vegetation discrimination and mapping, as well as assessment of forest damage and decline in both the United States and Europe.

During the 1994/5 academic year, Dr. Rock assumed the position of Senior Scientist and Assistant Director of the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program, an environmental education outreach project directed from the White House. Dr. Rock developed the hands-on science activities to be conducted by GLOBE students on an international scale (26 participating countries, involving over 2500 schools).
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Bruce Kershner:

Bruce Kershner is a well-known naturalist, ecologist and educator, as well as a national authority on old-growth forests, edible wild plants and waterfalls. He earned his B.S. degree in biology from Binghamton University and his M.S. in botany/ecology from the University of Connecticut. In 1987 and 1988 he was named Environmentalist of the Year from the Sierra Club (Niagara Group) and the Adirondack Mountain Council. In 1996, he was awarded Environmentalist of the Year in New York State by Environmental Advocates of New York. Bruce is on the faculty at the University of Buffalo and will be speaking to us about unexpected, majestic old-growth forests discovered in our region.
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Jennifer DeHart:

Jennifer DeHart is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Allegheny College, where she teaches a variety of courses, including Principles of Environmental Analysis, Environmental Spatial Analysis, Climate Change, and the Geography of Addiction. She received her B.A. degree in Environmental Studies from Emory and Henry University, her M.A in Geography from Appalachian State University, and her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of North Carolina. She has been teaching at Allegheny College since 2001. Her research interests include global change, watershed management, and inventories and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Linda Jones:

Linda Jones received her B.S. degree from Mary Washington College in chemistry and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Penn State University in fuel science from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She has taught in the College of Ceramic Engineering and Material Science at AU since 1991 and her research involves the degradation of structural carbon and carbide composites used in aerospace and other severe environment applications. Besides teaching, Dr. Jones has also worked as a propellant chemist in industry. The work in her laboratory on high temperature oxidation and degradation has been extended to the measurement of environmental effluents produced via manufacturing processes, including the manufacturing of glass. She and her students have ongoing research involving the measurement and quantification of air toxics and the use of different materials in the remediation and capture of air toxic associated with the manufacturing process. Dr. Jones has been named the American Carbon Society's Griffin Lecturer and she has received seven awards for teaching excellence.
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Peter Finlay:

Peter Finlay received his bachelor's degree in biology from Williams College and then went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Vermont and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. Upon finishing his Ph.D., Dr. Finlay came to Alfred University to teach biology, where he taught a variety of courses, including general zoology, cytology and embryology in addition to the introductory courses. Dr. Finlay worked on a variety of projects in his 34 year teaching career at AU, including projects on Seneca and Keuka Lakes. Dr. Finlay was also very active in the Environmental Studies program at Alfred for many years. He retired in 1990, but remains an active member of the AU community and good friend of the ENS program.
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Rosanna Cappellato:

A native of Italy, Rosanna Cappellato received her B.S. degree in biology from the University of Rome, a Doctorandus degree in biology from the University of Amsterdam, and a Ph.D. in biology from Emory University. Dr. Cappellato has served as an expert in ecology for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Morocco, a field biologist and research associate for the United State Geological Survey, a faculty member at Emory University, Director of Environmental Study Programs for the School for International training, and a visiting professor at Allegheny College. Her specialty is conservation biology and she has done research on a variety of topics, including the effects of acid precipitation on forests in Georgia. Dr. Cappellato is presently a visiting professor in the ENS program at Alfred.
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Peter Ryan:

Peter Ryan is an associate professor of geology and environmental studies at Middlebury College. He teaches courses in environmental geochemistry, hydrology, soils and interdisciplinary environmental science, and his research involves environmental geochemistry and mineralogy (clays!). In 2001-2002 he was a member of a technical outreach to small communities (TOSC) group appointed by EPA to provide technical advice to people affected by the Elizabeth Mine clean-up. Peter received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, his master's degree from the University of Montana and his Ph.D. from Dartmouth College. Before joining the faculty at Middlebury, Pete taught for a few years at a Native American tribal college in Montana.
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