Texas A&M AgriLife wildlife management program earns statewide recognition
Faculty, staff, student contributions earn awards from Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society
Texas A&M AgriLife faculty, staff and students were recognized for academic contributions and expertise in wildlife management and conservation at the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting in Galveston.
The Wildlife Society is an international nonprofit scientific and educational organization serving and representing wildlife conservation and resource management professionals.
Outstanding scientific publication
Stephen Webb, Ph.D., Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, NRI, research assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, was part of the research team that received the Outstanding Scientific Publication Award for the article, “An efficient acoustic classifier for high‐priority avian species in the southern Great Plains using convolutional neural networks.”
Publication co-authors include Brandon Wolfe, Ph.D., data science researcher, University of Arizona; Mike Proctor, research data scientist, NRI; and Victoria Nolan, Ph.D., data scientist, UCLA Health.
Outstanding book
Applied Wildlife Habitat Management received the Outstanding Book Award.
Book authors are Roel Lopez, Ph.D., head of the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management and NRI director; Jared Beaver, Ph.D., extension wildlife specialist and assistant professor, Montana State University; Israel Parker, Ph.D., research scientist, NRI; and Michael Morrison, Ph.D., retired Caesar Kleberg Chair in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
Outstanding electronic media
The Texas A&M Natural Resources Job Board was recognized with the Outstanding Electronic Media Award.
The job board is a nationwide job search tool for natural resource professionals and receives more than 1 million views each month.
Award recipients include Brian Brittain, NRI project manager; Alison Lund, NRI program manager; Aundra Ellis, administrative coordinator with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, and Lopez.
Student competitions and awards
Texas A&M Range Club plant identification teams took first and second place honors during the meeting’s plant identification competition.
Team One, which included Jake Chapman, Garrett Purcell and Valeria Enciso, all with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, earned first-place honors.
Team Two took second place honors and comprised Hanna Hardt, Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, and Hannah Moreno, Isabella Villalobos, and Liliana Villarreal, all with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
Chapman, Purcell and Hardt earned the top three individual competition scores, respectively.
The Texas A&M student chapter of The Wildlife Society won first place in the Wildlife Quiz Bowl, besting other collegiate student chapters from across the state.
The Texas A&M student chapter was also recognized as the Texas Student Chapter of the Year.
Xavius Ortiz, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, earned first place in the undergraduate poster competition, while Truman Gilliam, Department of Animal Science, placed third.
Kevin Perozeni, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, took first place in the graduate student poster competition.
The Outstanding Wildlife Student Award went to Jackson LaFeir, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
Dylan Stewart received the Sam Beasom Memorial Scholarship, and Abby Dwelle was awarded the South Texas Quail Coalition Scholarship. Both are graduate students in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
