Current Board Members

 

Deborah Clark, Ph.D.
President
Deborah earned her Ph.D.in Botany and Plant Pathology (Ecology) from Oregon State University in 1996. She specializes in the ecology of wetlands and prairies, particularly regeneration processes; conservation biology; restoration ecology.

 

Thomas N. Kaye, Ph.D.
Executive Director

Tom Kaye is Executive Director of the Institute for Applied Ecology. He graduated with a B.S. from The Evergreen State College (1984) and received a master's degree (1989) and PhD (2001) from Oregon State University. After working for Olympic National Park (1984-1987), he joined the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Plant Conservation Biology Program where he conducted research and contributed to policy on management of threatened and endangered plant species. He has served on the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Re-introduction Specialist Group and is a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.  For more information about Tom, click here.

 

Patricia Muir, Ph.D.
Secretary

Pat earned her B.S. degree in Botany and Biology from the University of Montana, Missoula in 1975 and her PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1984. She spent 3 years as a Research Scientist at a private research institute in Indianapolis, IN, studying effects of air pollutants on plants and the chemistry of fog water. She moved to Corvallis in 1987, when she began as an Assistant Professor in the Department of General Science at Oregon State University (OSU). She moved to OSU's Department of Botany and Plant Pathology in 1991, where she is currently a Professor. Pat also served as director of OSU's Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Program for 9 years.  Fore more information on Pat and her research interests, please click here.

Michael Blouin, Ph.D.

Michael Blouin is an associate professor in the department of Zoology at Oregon State University. Mike's field is population genetics. He uses DNA methods to assess genetic relationships among populations, or among individuals within populations, of a variety of species. For more information on Mike and his research interests, please click here.

 

Bob Hanson

Bob Hansen has recently retired as Director of Marion County Public Works in Salem, Oregon. His engineering background has given him patience and discipline, while being a public servant has taught him how to balance the needs of many contrasting interests. Bob took an early retirement to spend more time pursuing his growing interest in natural resources, including bird watching and restoring the native ecosystem that is his backyard. Mr. Hansen’s upland prairie restoration fits nicely with his role as current President of the Society for Ecological Restoration, Northwest Chapter.  Bob has been involved with IAE since the beginning, when he took Kelli Kuykendall's proverbial napkin drawing and had it engineered in a CAD program.

 

Dennis Isaacson
Inventory and management of vegetation was a career for Dennis Isaacson. He started the Noxious Weed Control Program at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, which coordinated successful reductions in the impact of the poisonous introduced weed, tansy ragwort.  Dennis has also worked at Oregon State University’s Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory characterizing elk use of vegetation, was Field Operations Manager for the ODA Commodity Inspection Division, served as the chairman of the Oregon Interagency Integrated Pest Management Coordinating Committee, was a member of an advisory panel to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment on Biologically-Based Technologies for Pest Control, and has served as a consultant on weed and mapping programs in New Zealand,  Australia and Indonesia. Dennis is is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Environmental Science at Portland State University working on the invasive weeds, Spartina spp. and wild blackberry.  Dennis was our Board Treasurer from 2003 - 2004.

 

Vern Holm
Vern is the Coordinator for the Northwest Weed Management Partnership, an informal multi-agency network of individuals and organizations concerned with rural and urban invasive weed issues in northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington. Previous to his work with the Weed Partnership he was employed at the Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District (McMinnville, Oregon) where he focused on education and outreach activities. Vern's background includes grant writing, organizational development, and serving on the boards of steering committees of several non-profit organizations.  He is also actively involved in numerous outdoor education and restoration groups.

 

Previous Board Members

Susan Aldrich-Markham	Member, 2003-2005
Kelli Kuykendall	Co-founder of IAE, Board President, Founder of Native Seed Network,      2000-2004
Randy Wentross	Member, 2000-2003
Colleen Gabriel	Member, 2000-2003
Heather Bonin	Member, 2000-2003