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Dr. Richard (Rob) Bierregaard is a research associate of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia and former president of the Raptor Research Foundation. From 1979 to 1988, working for the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution, he directed the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project. The project. Situated in the Brazilian Amazon, has been described as the largest and most ambitious ecological experiment ever undertaken, and is still ongoing. Upon his repatriation in the late 80s, for 18 years he taught Ornithology and Field Ecology in the Biology Department of UNC-Charlotte. Since 2002, he has taught ten times a two-week course on avian biology and conservation at the Highlands Biological Station. His work over the past four decades has focused on Barred Owls in Charlotte, NC, and Ospreys in northeastern North America. In 2014 he was the lead author on a paper chronicling the post-DDT return of the Osprey population in southern New England. From 2000 to 2017, Rob and his colleagues deployed satellite transmitters on 108 Ospreys, from South Carolina to Newfoundland. The data from 67 juvenile Ospreys, tracking their first migration to South America and back, have provided startling insights into how naïve Ospreys discover the migration route taken by virtually all adults.

Laura Boggess is a Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Mars Hill University, where her teaching and research focus on lichen ecology, cliff and rock outcrop communities, and plant conservation in the Southern Appalachians. She first studied at the Highlands Biological Station in 2005 as part of UNC–Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Environment field program—a semester that inspired her to pursue a career in ecology. She has been returning to HBS ever since. Laura is excited to teach this weeklong intensive on cliff and rock outcrop ecology for the fifth time—and for the fourth time in collaboration with botanist and long-time friend Gary Kauffman. Her work blends natural history, community science, and conservation practice, and she especially enjoys helping others deepen their connection to the plants, lichens, and landscapes of the Southern Appalachians.

Dr. Catherine Haase is an wildlife ecologist and Associate Professor at Austin Peay State University whose research focuses on mammal ecology and ecophysiology, with particular emphasis on small mammal conservation in the southeast. Her work integrates ecological modeling, field-based data collection, and statistical analysis to understand patterns of thermal biology, resource use, and disease. She received her BS in Wildlife Biology from Unity College in Maine, MS in Conservation Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology-Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. Her previous research has spanned species such as moose, gray wolves, Florida manatees, and Galapagos sea lions.

Before retiring in January 2025, Gary served as a botanist and ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina for 32 and a half years. During his first decade, he was responsible for botanical resources across 500,000 acres of the Nantahala National Forest. By the time he retired, his role had expanded to cover 1.3 million acres across all four national forests in North Carolina, from the mountains to the coast.

Gary coordinated programs focused on invasive plants, forest botanical products, the maintenance and restoration of rare plants, and the stewardship of both rare and common plant communities. His additional duties included providing botanical expertise and NEPA compliance support for projects, as well as contributing to forest plan revisions. Although not formally positioned in research, he co-authored several publications on topics including the description of a new vascular plant, ginseng management, community modeling, and monitoring of federally listed species.

He holds a master’s degree in botany and mycology from Ohio University, where he studied the ecological role of cellular slime molds. Originally from north-central Ohio, Gary grew up on a 220-acre dairy and chicken farm.

Paul Manos is Professor of Biology at Duke University. He has studied the systematics and biogeography of Northern Hemisphere woody plants with an emphasis on oaks, blueberries, and the flora of the Southern Appalachian region. He has extensive teaching experience including field courses and workshops taught at the Highlands Biological Station, Sarah P. Duke Gardens and the Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley.

Paul McKenzie served 28 years as Endangered Species Coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, overseeing implementation of the Endangered Species Act for a range of federally listed plants and animals, including the Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly and Tumbling Creek Cavesnail. With over 30 years of teaching experience on birds, grasses, sedges, and Odonates, Paul has published more than 120 scientific papers. His research includes rediscovering Aristida chaseae, a grass once thought extinct, and describing two new plant taxa to science. He continues to share his expertise as an instructor and consultant. Outside of his professional work, Paul enjoys hunting, fishing, nature photography, and serves as an ordained minister at United Community Cathedral in Columbia, Missouri.

Dr. John Morse’s principal focus centers on aquatic insect taxonomic and functional diversity and their role in assessing ecological conditions in streams, with a particular emphasis on regional and global caddisfly (Trichoptera) systematics, taxonomy, and biogeography. He has served on the faculty of Clemson University since 1974 in a range of teaching, research, outreach, and collection-management roles associated with the Clemson University Arthropod Collection.

Dr. Morse has taught regularly at the Highlands Biological Station since 1989 and has provided courses and workshops at numerous venues across the United States and internationally, especially throughout Asia. His research program, conducted with his students, focuses on the use of macroinvertebrates to assess water quality in streams of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and surrounding regions.

Dr. Christopher B. Mowry is a professor of biology at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, where he teaches courses in introductory biology, ecology, and conservation biology. His research program centers on animal ecology, with a primary focus on coyotes through the Atlanta Coyote Project, which they co-founded in 2014. Additional projects span bat, bird, and herpetofaunal diversity, with students involved in all aspects of the work.

Dr. Christopher B. Mowry holds a B.A. in Biology from Wake Forest University and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Ecology from Emory University. He has been a member of the Berry College faculty since 1994.

Dr. Kelly Murray-Stoker is an assistant professor of Biology at Oxford College of Emory University. She received a B.S. in Ecology and a B.S.E.S. in Entomology from the University of Georgia. She also received an M.S. in Entomology from the University of Georgia, and she received a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on community ecology of freshwater habitats and biodiversity patterns of aquatic insects, especially caddisflies (Trichoptera).

Dr. Sarah Stellwagen is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where her lab investigates spider and insect silks. Dr. Stellwagen minored in Entomology at Clemson University during her bachelor’s degree, which propelled her into arthropod science. After a master’s degree, also at Clemson investigating spider ecology, Dr. Stellwagen studied silk biomechanics at Virginia Tech for her doctorate. She became interested in silk genetics during a postdoc at the Army Research Lab, where she learned long read sequencing techniques. In 2023, Dr. Stellwagen joined the Biology Department at UNC Charlotte where she uses biomaterial testing and genetic techniques to answer questions about the evolution of arthropod silk properties.

Dr. Alex Orfinger completed BS and MS degrees in biology at the University of Central Florida, earning his PhD in entomology at the University of Florida in 2023. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Dalton State College in Georgia, USA. Dr. Orfinger’s research largely centers on caddisfly (Trichoptera) systematics, though he has broad interests in natural history, taxonomy, ecology, evolutionary biology, and invasion biology of a wide range of taxa, but especially aquatic insects and fishes. In his free time, Dr. Orfinger enjoys hiking, fishing, watching and playing soccer and football, and spending time with his wife and two pups.

Joey is a Distinguished Service UC Foundation Professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He earned both an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Joey regularly teaches Plant Morphology, Plant Taxonomy, Field Botany, and Biogeography at UTC and Biology and Identification of Ferns and Allies, Wetland Plants, Sedges, and other courses at Highlands Biological Station. Joey is an author and editor of the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Tennessee and he loves teaching students how to better interpret and understand plant parts and their alignment to dichotomous keys.

Rachel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Farlow Herbarium at Harvard University, specializing in fungal systematics and taxonomy. Her work focuses on chanterelles and their relatives, thelephoroid fungi, and corticioid fungi.

Her research integrates herbarium studies, molecular sequencing, and phylogenetic methods to identify and describe new species, and to explore how fungal evolution is shaped by biology and ecology.

Rachel earned her Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee, where she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her work has also been supported by funding from the Mycological Society of America, the U.S. National Park Service, and the TENN Herbarium.

In addition to her research, Rachel has led mushroom forays and educational walks across the country. She is also a co-author of a forthcoming field guide to the mushrooms of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Dr. James T. Costa is the Executive Director of the Highlands Biological Station and a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Western Carolina University. An evolutionary biologist, historian of science, and prolific author, Jim’s research spans insect social behavior, chemical ecology, and the history of evolutionary thought.

He has written extensively on Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, including Darwin and the Art of Botany (with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation) and the acclaimed Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace. Jim’s scholarship bridges science, history, and culture, inviting readers and students to explore the roots—and ongoing relevance—of evolutionary ideas.

A passionate educator and naturalist, Jim has led field courses for decades in the southern Appalachians and around the world. His work continues to champion the rich biodiversity of the Blue Ridge and the importance of conservation, research, and public understanding of science.

Travis Knowles is a biology professor with more than 30 years of teaching experience in conservation, mammalogy, ornithology, and tropical ecology.

His research focuses on mammalian biodiversity and community structure, with particular emphasis on camera-trapping surveys and plant–animal interactions, including the effects of large grazers on plant community composition and diversity.

Travis is the founding Director of the Wildsumaco Biological Station in Ecuador, which supports teaching and research in tropical biology, ecology, and conservation.