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2007 RRF Award Committee Report to Board of Directors
Petra Bohall Wood, Chair
Fall 2007

Awards committee staffing changes:

Petra Wood, chair of the awards committee since 1993, is stepping down. Clint Boal will be the new chair. Clint Boal is stepping down after 7 years as chair of the Hamerstrom subcommittee and is being replace by Brent Bibles. Patricia Hall, chair of the Koplin subcommittee since 1996, is stepping down and is being replaced by Jim Harper. Rick Gerhardt, chair of the Anderson subcommittee is stepping down. A replacement is still needed beginning with the 2008 conference.

The William C. Andersen Student Presentation Award

Rick Gerhardt (chair) was not able to attend the conference so Petra Wood chaired the committee this year.Judges were Jim Bednarz, Cheryl Dykstra, Jim Elliott, Angela Matz, Ruth Tingay, and Petra Wood.

Eleven oral presentations and 4 poster presentations were made. RRF guidelines state that if less than 5 posters are in contention, no separate poster award will be given. Therefore, the posters were judged with the oral papers. We normally would have one 1st place and one runner-up selected. However, due to the high quality of all the presentations, two additional individuals were recognized as honorable mention. Recipients were notified before the banquet and asked to attend the banquet.

Award for 1st place includes a $100 check, 1-yr membership to RRF, and a banquet ticket. The runner-up receives a 1-yr membership to RRF and a banquet ticket.

First place: Markus Mika, Barrick Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "Population Genetics and Evolutionary History of the Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus)"

Second place: Christopher Briggs, Dept of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada-Reno. "Assortative Mating in Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni)"

Honorable mention: Martina Zucchini,Biology Department, Boise State University."Flight Strategies of Neotropical Migrant Raptors in Panama"

Jessi L. Brown, Dept of Natural Resources & Environmental Science, University of Nevada-Reno"Using existing nest box occupancy data to model potential American Kestrel habitat in south-central Florida"

The James R. Koplin Student Travel Award

Committee chair Pat Hall has stepped down after many years as chair. The new chair will be Jim Harper. There were no applicants for the 2007 conference.

Amadon and Tully Grants

Committee: Carole Griffiths (chair), Robert Rosenfield. The committee received 8 applications for the Tully Grant and 8 for the Amadon Grant.  Recipients have been notified and have been sent their checks.

Amadon grant of $1000awarded to Ronald Kale Mulwa, research scientist in the Dept of Ornithology, National Museums of Kenya. "Survey and assessment of the determinants of the high abundance of migratory and resident raptors in hilly landscapes of Eastern Kenya."

Tully grant of $500awarded to: Corinne Kozlowski, graduate student at University of Missouri - St. Louis. "Differential yolk androgen allocation and sex-specific effects of elevated androgens in Eastern screech owl nestlings."

Brown Grant

Jeff Lincer (Chair), Dick Clark, David Johnson, Guy Rondeau.  Two applications were received.

$1,400 awarded to Paul Kariuka Ndang’ang’a who manages the ‘Species’ component of the Conservation Programme of the BirdLife International Africa Partnership. "Detailed Status for African Raptors; Prioritization for Conservation Action"

Hamerstrom and Cade Award Committees

Nomination Committee:  David Andersen (chair), Patricia Kennedy, Steve Redpath, and Eduardo Inigo-Elias
Selection Committee: Clint Boal (Chair), Brent Bibles, Buzz Hull, Marco Restani.
Two nominations were received for the Hamerstrom Award. Both individuals were presented with the Fran and Frederick Hamerstrom Award this year.  They were Karen Steenhof and Michael Kochert. See the March 2007 Wingspan for more details.