Nick Aumen
  Monday, July 28, 2008 (9:50am–10:30am)
  Plenary Session: Symposium on Biogeochemistry and Contaminants

Dr. Nicholas G. Aumen is an aquatic ecologist for Everglades National Park (US Department of the Interior, National Park Service), and oversees an interagency team of scientists and engineers tracking the progress of the south Florida ecosystem restoration program. Formerly, Nick was the Research Director at the South Florida Water Management District in West Palm Beach. Nick received his B.S. and M.S. in biology at the University of West Florida, and his Ph.D. in microbial ecology at Oregon State University. After finishing his Ph.D., he took a faculty position in biology at the University of Mississippi, and was a tenured Associate Professor of Biology until 1991, when he returned to Florida. Nick presently is an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, and has directed several M.S.-level students’ theses on environmental research projects.
 

Lynn Scarlett
  Tuesday, July 29, 2008 (1:30pm–3:00pm)
  Opening Plenary Session

Lynn Scarlett was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior on November 2005, a post she took on after 4 years as the Department's Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget. She served as Acting Secretary of the Department upon the resignation of former Secretary Gale Norton effective April 1, until the confirmation of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on May 26, of 2006. She serves on the Executive Committee of the President's Management Council.

Ms. Scarlett coordinates Interior's environmental policy initiatives to implement the President's executive order on cooperative conservation, serving on the White House Cooperative Conservation Task Force. From June 2003-2004, she chaired the federal Wildland Fire Leadership Council, an interagency and intergovernmental forum for implementing the National Fire Plan and 10-Year Implementation Plan. She co-chairs the President and First Lady's Preserve America initiative on historic preservation and heritage tourism. She also co-chairs the Recreation Fee Leadership Council, a federal interagency group to coordinate recreation fee policy and practices on federal lands. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Udall Foundation as the Department of the Interior representative.

Prior to joining the Bush Administration in July 2001, she was President of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit current affairs research and communications organization.

Ms. Scarlett is author of numerous publications on incentive-based environmental policies. Ms. Scarlett received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science and political economy.
 

Mark Myers
Director, US Geological Survey
  Tuesday, July 29, 2008 (1:30pm–3:30pm)
  Opening Plenary Session

Dr. Myers is responsible for leading the Nation's largest water, earth, biological science, and civilian mapping agency in its mission to provide the scientific data that enable decisionmakers to create sound policies for a changing world.

He is an internationally recognized geologist and former State Geologist and head of Alaska's Geological Survey. An expert on North Slope sedimentary and petroleum geology, Dr. Myers served as survey chief for field programs in the MacKenzie Delta (for the ARCO corporation, 1985), Cook Inlet (for the State of Alaska/USGS, 1997), and North Slope (ARCO, 1999). He also served as sedimentologist for 13 other North Slope field programs.

Dr. Myers is a past president and board member of the Alaska Geological Society; a certified professional geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists; a certified petroleum geologist with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists; and a licensed geologist with the State of Alaska.

Dr. Myers served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1977 to 2003, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.

He has a doctorate in geology from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and bachelor's and master's degrees in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 

Amy Clement
  Wednesday, July 30, 2008 (8:30am–10:00am)
  Plenary Session: Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Change

Dr. Amy Clement is an Associate Professor of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Dr. Clement performs research on tropical climate changes that occur on timescales of years to millennia, including El Nino, Global warming and abrupt climate change. She uses computer models of the climate together with satellite and surface based observations in order to characterize and understand how and why the tropical climate changes. Dr.Clement was a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report. She has received awards from both the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union recognizing her research contributions.

Dr. Clement has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Columbia College of Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from Columbia University.
 

Chuck Collins
  Wednesday, July 30, 2008 (8:30am–10:00am)
  Plenary Session: Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Change

Chuck Collins is the South Regional Director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The FWC has responsibility for rule-making, management, enforcement, and science relative to fish and wildlife resources statewide. Chuck currently oversees FWC operations in the 10 counties that comprise the FWC South Region. From 1985 until 2004 he served in law enforcement investigating cases involving major resource violations, boating crashes, vessel theft, and title fraud. He has been declared an expert in boating crash reconstruction and accident investigation. Chuck has lectured extensively in these areas for numerous agencies and organizations including the International Association of Marine Investigators, IBEX, United States Coast Guard, United States Customs, FWC academy, Alaska State Law Enforcement, and other local law enforcement agencies. In 2004 Chuck was selected as FWC’s Officer of the year and by Shikar-Safari Club International as Florida’s Conservation Officer of the Year. In addition, Chuck was named 2004 National Boating Law Enforcement Officer of the year.

Chuck Collins received his Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Barry University and his Masters of Business in Crisis Management from Florida Atlantic University.
 

Dan B. Kimball
  Wednesday, July 30, 2008 (8:30am–10:00am)
  Plenary Session: Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Change

Dan B. Kimball serves as the Superintendent of Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks. As superintendent, Kimball is responsible for preserving, protecting, restoring, and managing both of these units of the National Park System. Since his arrival in 2004, he has led the parks’ involvement in restoration of the Everglades, the largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the planet, and also in the establishment and implementation of a marine protected area in the Dry Tortugas.

Superintendent Kimball previously served as Chief of the National Park Service’s (NPS’s) Water Resources Division, a position he held since 1993. During his tenure there, Kimball led NPS’s effort to preserve national park water resources. He played a major role in successful efforts to settle park water rights issues in the western United States and to protect parks, such as Yellowstone National Park (WY/MT) and Glacier National Park (MT), from the adverse resource development activities. Kimball also served as Acting Superintendent of Zion National Park (UT) and Assistant to the National Park Service Deputy Director in Washington, D.C.

A 24-year veteran of the NPS, Kimball has previously held positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Surface Mining, and with environmental consulting firms. He has received a number of awards including the Department of the Interior Superior Service Award (1989), Stephen Tyng Mather Award for resource conservation given by the National Parks Conservation Association (1995), the Pacific Northwest Regional Director's Award for Professional Excellence in Natural Resources (2002), and the Southeast Region’s Superintendent of the Year Award (2007).

Superintendent Kimball earned a BA in earth sciences from Denison University in Ohio in 1971 and an MS in water resources administration from the University of Arizona in 1974. His professional expertise includes water and natural resource management and the evaluation of complex environmental issues.

Superintendent Kimball is a native of Michigan, is married, and has one son.