Fun in the Summer Sun: A Re-cap of Squirrel-Net’s Summer Conference Activities

The long-awaited joint meeting of two mammal-centric societies was a great success! The American Society of Mammalogists and the International Federation of Mammalogists convened in Anchorage, Alaska in mid-July. This joint meeting was in the works for the past few years, but COVID delayed the event. During the conference, over 600 mammal enthusiasts came to Alaska to share new research, network and learn new skills, and enjoy the local food, culture, and wildlife.

Squirrel-Net was out in force throughout the conference. Former digital media specialist and current master’s student Raven Patrick presented a poster on the best practices for an organization to use social media. Several of the Nuts behind Squirrel-Net also presented a poster with preliminary results from student assessment surveys, which highlighted the exciting result that students feel more like a scientist after participating in Squirrel-Net CUREs. We were also delighted to reconnect with the “GUD-father” and original nut who inspired Squirrel-Net’s humble beginnings, Dr. Joel Brown formerly from University of Illinois in Chicago and currently of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida.

CMU undergraduate Raven Patrick presents her poster on digital media engagement with Squirrel-Net

Squirrel-Net Nuts, from left to right: Hayley Lanier, Joel Brown, Liz Flaherty, Johanna Varner, Patrice Connors, and Jenny Duggan

Additionally, Squirrel-Net teamed up with friends at BCEENET to lead a workshop about CUREs and how to implement these activities in your classroom. In-person and virtual attendees participated in CURE demos, and broke into smaller groups for discussions and personalized help from BCEENET and Squirrel-Net.

Squirrel-Net's Patrice Connors and Jenny Duggan present the behavioral module

BCEENET's Carly Jordan presents background about networked CUREs

Squirrel-Net also made an appearance at the Ecological Society of America’s meeting in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Laurie Dizney from University of Portland presented a poster about the positive impacts of Squirrel-Net CUREs on student identities and confidence. While there, Laurie connected with Anna Carlson, who was a recipient of a Squirrel-Net travel award and a huge fan of squirrels herself.

We can’t wait for the next opportunity to see you at a workshop or conference! We will share our plans to attend conferences or host workshops in our newsletters and on social media. As a reminder, we have some funds to help support travel to conferences, and we would love to broadcast other members of our network, so please contact us with more questions or to keep us updated! Wishing you a great start to fall - the best time to be a squirrel.