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Some notes from the SDSU Department of Natural Resource Management Newsletter. If you want to read what Pond Boss is supporting take a look.

http://www.sdstate.edu/nrm/about/upload/Newsletter_Issue-1_June-2013_NRM.pdf


Annual Meeting of the Dakota Chapter AFS
The 2013 annual meeting of the Dakota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society was held February 26-28 …. Undergraduate students involved in presentations were Anthony Rodger, David Bogner, Luke Leischner, and Seth Sparks. Graduate students involved in presentations were Jeremy Kientz, Kjetil Henderson, Jacob Krause, Alexander Letvin, Jason Breeggemann, Andrew Carlson, Michael Barnes, Tanner Stevens, David Deslauriers, Jessica Howell, James Sholly, Mark Kaemingk, Daniel Dembkowski, Jeffrey Grote, Jake Mecham, Tobias Rapp, Bradley Smith, Natalie Schiebel, Matthew Wagner, Cari-Ann Hayer, Laura Heironimus, Adam Janke, and Todd Kaufman. Faculty members involved in presentations were Drs. Larry Gigliotti, Katie Bertrand, Brian Graeb, Michael Brown, Steven Chipps, David Willis, and Melissa Wuellner. The Outstanding Young Professional Award was presented to Dr. Katie Bertrand. Natalie Scheibel and Jeffrey Grote earned co-Best Poster Awards, and Andrew Carlson earned the Best Student Presentation Award.

Due to secretive nomination by Drs. Gary Larson and Katie Bertrand, department head Dave Willis (me) received the Dr. Harold and Barbara Bailey Award for Excellence in Academic Department Leadership at the 2013 Celebration of Faculty Excellence. I hope that everyone reading this newsletter knows how proud I am of our program, and how strongly I believe that our faculty members are among the hardest-working on campus.

Jesse West Fisheries Research Endowment
Another of our research endowments paid dividends this year. Undergraduate student Kris Stahr (BS Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences 2012) published a research project that was partially funded by the Jesse W. West Fisheries Research Endowment. The paper was entitled Factors Associated with Bluegill Nest Site Selection within a Shallow, Natural Lake, and Mark Kaemingk helped Kris with the work. The paper came out in a 2013 volume/issue of Journal of Freshwater Ecology. Kris is now in an M.S. program with Dr. Dan Shoup at Oklahoma State University. Check the following link for the products produced with Jesse West funding over the past 6 years. http://www.sdstate.edu/nrm/research-endowments/west.cfm

Three of our Pond Boss SDSU alumni (former students now doing Fisheries work ) Melissa Wuellner, Justin Vandehey and Tyler Stubbs have recently had babies.

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Thank you PB family for making this possible.

This is a wonderful tribute. This whole conglomeration is a wonderful program that benefits many.

Dr. Willis is the kind of professor, leader, mentor, and friend that every school needs.

For newcomers to Pond Boss, Dr. Dave Willis is a very active member here on the forum, and has helped his students be significant contributors to Pond Boss Magazine and the Pond Boss conferences. He was the co-editor of a recent book that is the true baseline for pond management.

Yes, the students have benefited from Dr. Dave and Pond Boss, but us Pond Boss members have also gained an incredible amount of knowledge and insight from all of their research and knowledge sharing.

We also need to thank EWEST for helping set this up.

My wife and I are strong supporters of the Jesse West Foundation even though we have no connection to South Dakota State University -- other than friendships with Dr. Dave and his beautiful bride, and a few of the students/graduates who are alumni of the same university I attended in the last century. It is such a great program for what most of us have as a passion, I strongly encourage others to support it.

Lynda and Ken G.