2010 Electronic Election Candidates
2010 SOUTHERN DIVISION AFS CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE
The election is closed.
Vice-President Candidates
Candidate for SDAFS Vice PresidentMike Allen is a professor in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida whose work has focused on population dynamics and ecology of fishes. He uses field studies and computer models to explore population dynamics of fishes that support important recreational fisheries. He has evaluated habitat requirements for freshwater fishes and fisheries management strategies for recreational fisheries in lakes, reservoirs, and marine environments.
Allen received his BS degree from Texas A&M in 1990, his MS from Auburn University in 1992, and his Ph.D. from Mississippi State in 1996. He spent a year teaching at Auburn before joining the University of Florida (UF) faculty in 1997. At UF, he teaches graduate courses entitled "Fish Population Dynamics" and "Ecological Statistics and Design". Allen has had 20 MS students and five Ph.D. students under his direction thus far at UF.
He has published over 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals, written three book chapters, and co-edited the Fourth International Reservoir Symposium book in 2008. Over the past five years he has worked internationally with research projects addressing fisheries management issues Guatemala and Australia.
Allen has been a member of AFS since 1990. He served as the President of the Florida Chapter American Fisheries Society in 2005 and as Associate Editor for the North American Journal of Fisheries Management from 2002-2009. He has served on numerous committees at the state, division, and national levels of AFS, including Chair of the Southern Division Reservoir Committee in 1998-1999.
"AFS has had a big influence on my career and professional development over the past 20 years. The Southern Division AFS has a long history of strong student involvement at all levels, technical committees that make a major impact on resource management (e.g., manuals, books, and workshops for fisheries professionals), and excellent communication between private, government, and academic fisheries professionals. If elected, I would seek to maintain and improve those linkages by facilitating student input into all Division activities, supporting development of new products from the technical committees, and maintaining the record of excellent communication during the annual meeting of the Southern Division."
Candidate for SDAFS Vice PresidentWill Patterson grew up fishing and working on the water in Virginia’s Tidewater region. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1991 with B.A. in History, and received an M.S. in Biological Sciences in 1995 from Old Dominion University. He then left Virginia for graduate work on the Gulf Coast and received a PhD. in Marine Sciences from the University of South Alabama in 1999. After a Post-Doc at Louisiana State University, Patterson worked as a research professor at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab for two years prior to being hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of West Florida (UWF) in 2004. He was promoted to Associate Professor at UWF in 2007.
Dr. Patterson’s research interests fall under the broad category of Marine Fisheries Ecology, but specific areas of interest include population dynamics, population structure, ontogentic shifts in habitat utilization, and trophic structure of fish communities. He has overseen $2.9M in research funding, with recent work focused on the ecology of natural and artificial reefs on northern Gulf of Mexico, juvenile red snapper habitat requirements and ontogentic trophic shifts, and king mackerel population dynamics and structure. Patterson has authored or co-authored 17 journal articles, 3 book chapters, and 1 book. He also served as the lead editor for AFS Symposium 60 and has produced an additional 25 proceedings papers or technical reports. He has directed the thesis research of 15 graduate students and served on the graduate committees of 6 additional students. Lastly, he has mentored 16 undergraduate students who have conducted research in his laboratory.
Patterson has been active in professional service since his graduate school days in the mid 1990s, having served on the Mackerel and Reef Fish Stock Assessment Panels of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and currently serving as a member of the Gulf Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee. He been a member of AFS since the late 1990s, including its Marine Fisheries and Early Life History Sections, and served as President of the Florida Chapter of AFS in 2008. He also was the lead organizer of a symposium on Gulf of Mexico red snapper fisheries and ecology at the 2006 Southern Division meeting and has given numerous presentations at Florida, Southern Division, and National AFS meetings.
“I am honored to be nominated as a candidate for the position of Vice President of the Southern Division. AFS has been instrumental in my development as a fisheries biologist, and the professional development AFS has afforded to students I have brought to meetings is immeasurable. It would be a true honor to serve among the distinguished fishery biologists currently sitting on the Southern Division Executive Committee, and I pledge, if elected, to follow their examples of leadership in bringing a sense of cohesion to the diverse talents and specialties that exist among the various chapters and members of the Southern Division. One particular focus I would have is striving to strengthen existing mentorship programs within the Division, and especially to reach out to promising undergraduate students not enrolled in traditional Fisheries undergraduate programs but who nonetheless may be interested in Fisheries as a career.”
Secretary/Treasurer Candidates
Candidate for SDAFS Secretary/TreasurerCraig Bonds is a regional director with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries Division where his work focuses on recreational fisheries management in public reservoirs, urban impoundments, and rivers in East Texas. He is an eleven-year veteran of his agency, with eight years at various district fisheries management positions across the state. Craig earned his B.S. from Texas A&M University in 1996 and his M.S. from Virginia Tech in 2000. He has been a member of AFS since 1997 and is a Certified Fisheries Professional. He is a graduate of his agency’s Natural Leaders Program and has experience in various leadership and service positions. Craig has served the Texas Chapter AFS (TCAFS) at many levels (President-Elect, current; Secretary/Treasurer, 2007-2009; Editorial Committee Chair, 2005-2007; Pond Management Committee Chair, 2002-2005), and has a thorough knowledge of Chapter finances and IRS reporting requirements (TCAFS files IRS Form 990EZ and multiple schedule attachments as annual income exceeds $25K). He recently (2006-2008) served the Southern Division AFS as Ballot Committee Chair, playing a role in the Division’s successful transition from paper to electronic election procedures. He served on the SDAFS 2006 Spring Meeting Planning Team as Chair of the Posters/Abstracts Committee. Craig is a frequent presenter at AFS Chapter and Division meetings, earning the 2007 Texas Chapter Best Professional Oral Presentation Award and the SDAFS John F. Dequine Award for Best Paper at the 2006 and 2008 SEAFWA Conferences. If elected, Craig pledges to work enthusiastically to uphold the Division’s high standard for service, professionalism, information exchange, and student support.
Candidate for SDAFS Secretary/TreasurerElizabeth Osier Moats is a Freshwater Fisheries Regional Coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR). Elizabeth oversees the management fisheries resources in all public fresh waters in the 13-county Catawba-Pee Dee Region. This includes fish survey and monitoring of all major reservoirs, SC DNR managed State Lakes, rivers and streams. Additionally, she has been involved in the FERC relicensing activities on the Catawba-Wateree system and, more recently, major revisions and updates to freshwater fisheries statues and laws.
A native of Atlanta, GA, she earned a Bachelor of Science in 1998 from Elon University in Environmental Studies. In 2005, she earned a Master of Science from West Virginia University in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources. At WVU, Elizabeth was advised by Stuart Welsh while studying the distribution and habitats of the crystal darter and spotted darter in the Elk River, WV. She was a member of the WVU Student Sub-Unit of AFS from 2002-2005 and served as Secretary in 2003. As Secretary, she participated in the planning and hosting of the 3rd Annual Future Fisheries Professionals Student Colloquium. The Colloquium hosted 120 students from 17 colleges and universities across the East Coast.
Elizabeth has been a member of the American Fisheries Society since 2001 and the South Carolina Chapter of AFS since 2005. In 2008, she was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the SC AFS. In this office, she has managed the SC AFS checking, savings and Certificate of Deposit accounts, planned and organized annual meetings, recorded minutes at annual business meetings and planned annual workshops.
SDAFS Representative to the AFS Nominating Committee Candidates
Candidate for SDAFS Representative to the AFS Nominating CommitteeMary is an Associate Professor of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in Gloucester Point, VA. She received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Fordham University and her Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. Prior to her position at VIMS, she served as Chief of the Behavioral Ecology Branch at NMFS, Northeast Fisheries Science Center (Sandy Hook Lab, NJ), Leader of the Population Dynamics Section at the USGS-Great Lakes Science Center (Ann Arbor, MI), and as Fisheries Research Biologist with the Institute for Fisheries Research (MI DNR, Ann Arbor, MI). Mary was affiliated with the Department of Fisheries & Wildlife at Michigan State University during her time in Ann Arbor. Her publications span a range of topics including creel surveys for Great Lakes fishes, survival analysis of lake trout, catch-and-release mortality of marine fish, estimating long-term trends from fisheries data, and catch-per-unit-effort estimation. Mary has been a member of the American Fisheries Society since 1985, and has served the Society in numerous capacities since that time including President of AFS (2007-2008), President of the Marine Fisheries Section, Secretary-Treasurer of the Equal Opportunities Section, Chair of the Publications Overview Committee, Chair of the Nominating Committee, Chair of the Program Committee, and Chair of the Awards Committee. In addition to these elected and appointed positions, she served as Associate Editor of the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (1988-1990) and helped to launch the new AFS journal, Marine and Coastal Fisheries. She was recognized for her service to AFS in 1998 with the Distinguished Service Award and for her scientific accomplishments at NOAA with the 2005 Bronze Medal Award. Mary is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hudson River Foundation and a Fellow of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists. As Southern Division representative to the Nominating Committee, Mary will be committed to nominating candidates who will provide strong, positive leadership for AFS.
Candidate for SDAFS Representative to the AFS Nominating CommitteeKyle Hartman graduated from the University of Maryland with a PhD in Fish Ecology in 1993. Prior to that he received M.S. and B.S. degrees from The Ohio State University (they make us say “The”) in 1989 and 1984 respectively, and an A.S. degree from Hocking Technical College in 1980. Between degrees he worked for the USFWS and the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Following his Ph.D. he worked as a research assistant professor at the Great Lakes Center of Buffalo State College, and then he moved to become an assistant professor in the Wildlife and Fisheries Resources program at West Virginia University in 1996. He is currently a professor at WVU, Program Chair for Wildlife and Fisheries, and serves as the advisor for the student sub-section of the WV Chapter of AFS.
Kyle first became a member of AFS in 1982. He became a life member in 1985. He has been very active in AFS at the state, division and national level where he has served on numerous committees (e.g. time and place, best student paper award, best paper in NAJFM and TAFS), served as an associate editor for Transactions, as formerPresident of the WV Chapter, and he has served as program chair or co-chair at the state and Southern Division levels of AFS. Kyle has helped organize several symposia at the national AFS meetings and served as editor of the WVV Chapter newsletter for several years. Currently he is program co-chair for the National meeting in Pittsburgh, Chair of the best paper in NAJFM, and president-elect of the new Fish Habitat Section.
