Earth Rangers Biodiversity Advisory Committee

The Earth Rangers Biodiversity Advisory Committee (ERBAC) is comprised of several scientists and professionals who represent some of the most regarded names in their field. ERBAC members volunteer their time to provide guidance for Earth Rangers programs, offering critical insight into the issues surrounding biodiversity and methods for engaging children.

Biographies

Dr. Mark Engstrom has served as Vice President and then Deputy Director of Collections & Research of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) since 2003. Dr. Mark Engstrom has served as Vice President and then Deputy Director of Collections & Research of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) since 2003. He is responsible for day to day operations, long term strategic planning, and integration of “back of house” curatorial operations with the Museum’s initiatives in education, public programming, and exhibits. Engstrom obtained his Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University in 1982, a M.Sc. from Fort Hays State University in 1978, and a B.Sc. from the University of Minnesota in 1975. Engstrom joined the ROM in 1988 as Assistant Curator of Mammals. From that initial appointment to 1999 he was promoted to Curator and Senior Curator, receiving academic tenure in 1998, while serving as Curator-in-Charge of the Department of Mammalogy from 1990 to 1995. From 1999 to 2002 he was appointed as the ROM’s Director of Research. He also is cross appointed to the University of Toronto as Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Engstrom has held numerous research grants including from the National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, The National Geographic Society, and Conservation International. His research on the evolutionary biology and systematics of mammals has resulted in publication of over 90 scientific papers, books, and book chapters.

Dr. T. Ryan Gregory completed his B.Sc.H. at McMaster University in 1997 and earned his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology and zoology from the University of Guelph in 2002. After completing his Ph.D., he carried out postdoctoral research at the American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum, before returning to join the faculty at the University of Guelph. His primary research interests include large-scale genome evolution, biodiversity, and macroevolution. Gregory is also Scientific Coordinator of the HealthBOL project using DNA barcoding to identify pathogens, parasites, and disease vectors as part of the International Barcode of Life (iBOL) program. He has been the recipient of several prestigious scholarships, fellowships, and awards, including the 2003 NSERC Howard Alper Postdoctoral Prize as “Canada’s most outstanding postdoctoral fellow in the natural sciences or engineering”, a 2005 McMaster Alumni Association Arch Award, a 2006 American Society of Naturalists Young Investigator Prize, the 2007 Canadian Society of Zoologists Bob Boutilier New Investigator Award, and the 2010 Genetics Society of Canada Robert H. Haynes Young Scientist Award. Gregory also received a 2008 University of Guelph Faculty Association Distinguished Professor Award for his teaching. Gregory created several online resources, including the Animal Genome Size Database, Evolver Zone, and Microbial Art.

Dr. Robert Hanner is the Associate Director of the Canadian Barcode of Life Network, headquartered at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario on the University of Guelph campus where he also holds a faculty position in the Department of Integrative Biology (2005-current). Hanner received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Oregon in 1997. He then joined the American Museum of Natural History as a postdoctoral fellow in 1998 and subsequently advanced to the position of Curatorial Associate, charged with development and oversight of the Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research. He then transitioned to the Coriell Institute for Medical Research, where he served as Scientific Program Director of the Coriell Cell Repositoires (2003-2005). During this time he also served as President of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER; 2003-2004). Hanner maintains an active program of research involving DNA barcoding, coordinating the global campaign to barcode all fishes (FISH-BOL) and he also serves on a number of boards, committees, and technical working groups.

Dr. Douglas Levey received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1986 and is now a Professor of Biology at the University of Florida. His research interests include tropical bird ecology, why chilli peppers are hot, use of habitat corridors in conservation, and how wild birds adapt to urban environments. He directs SPICE, a program that partners graduate students in scientific disciplines with science teachers from disadvantaged middle schools, where the graduate students become mentors and role models. His latest activities include NSF-sponsored projects on building a web-based, Avatar-style game to train students about plagiarism, and building a community of scientists to provide research and public education on migration of birds in South America. He has received teaching, research, mentoring, and community outreach awards at the University of Florida, and he serves on the scientific advisory boards of Encyclopedia of Life and The Natural History Network.

Mr. John Riley is Chief Science Officer with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). He was a student of botany and geology at the University of Toronto and University of Waterloo. He served as botanist with the Royal Ontario Museum and geologist with the Ontario Geological Survey, both providing him with extraordinary access into every corner of Ontario, but especially the north, resulting in the Flora of the Hudson Bay Lowland. In the mid 1980s, Riley joined the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources as ecologist with special responsibilities for natural-heritage programs and policies, including reforms to the Ontario land-use planning system, culminating in his book The Natural Heritage of Southern Ontario’s Settled Landscapes. Riley joined Ontario Nature as director of conservation science and executive director. He was a leader of the Partnership for Public Lands, was involved in the negotiation the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, and established the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation and the Greenbelt Foundation. Most recently, he has helped found the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund. His work at the NCC has been ecoregional assessments, or conservation blueprints, for all of southern Canada, from coast to coast. Riley is currently extending this work northward into the boreal, and is at present a member of the Far North Science Advisory Panel to the Province of Ontario.

Dr. Bridget Stutchbury completed her M.Sc. at Queen’s University and her Ph.D. at Yale, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology at York University, where she has been a professor since 1991. Stutchbury is an expert on the ecology, conservation, and behaviour of songbirds and serves on the Board of Wildlife Preservation Canada and the Conservation and Science Committee of World Wildlife Fund Canada. In 2005, she was named one of the Toronto Star’s “People to Watch” after her groundbreaking research into the sexual antics of birds made international headlines. Stutchbury has produced over forty scientific publications and is author of the books Silence of the Songbirds (2007, finalist for Governor General’s Award) and The Bird Detective (2010).

Dr. Arthur Weis is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, and serves as Director of the University’s biological field research facility, Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from DePaul University, Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Weis’ research probes the selective pressures imposed by climate change on the Ontario flora. This work employs experimental equipment that elevates field plot temperatures to match those expected for the year 2050. Before coming to Toronto in 2007, Weis served for 19 years as professor of Ecological Genetics at the University of California – Irvine. He is founding director of the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution/Institut Canadien d’Écologie et d’Évolution, a newly formed national “think tank” to promote the synthesis of existing environmental data, develop new biological theory, and provide unbiased scientific assessments of public policies and practices. Weis also initiated Project Baseline, an international collaboration that is establishing a seed bank, collected from natural plant populations, that later generations of evolutionary biologists will use as the “before” sample when gauging the evolutionary impact of global change.