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Media Contact: Steve Carr (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu

September 13, 2007

UNM Biologists Elected to American Society of Mammalogists Board

University of New Mexico biology faculty members Felisa Smith and Joseph Cook were re-elected and elected respectively to the Board of Directors of the American Society of Mammalogists at its 87 th annual meeting held recently at UNM.

Each will serve a three-year term (2007-10) assisting in the direction of the world’s oldest and largest scientific organization devoted to mammals.

Smith has been a member of the ASM for 20 years and has been an ombudsman for the Society since 2002. For Smith, it’s her fourth term on the board. She has served on the public education and grants-in aid standing committees and was the chair of the ad hoc committee on human diversity in mammalogy, and also served on the women and minority issues and the strategic planning ad hoc committees.

Smith’s research interests include paleoecology, ecological and evolutionary effects of past and present climate change on mammals, macroecological patterns of body size across spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales, and the historical role of women in science.

Cook, a life member, has been a member of the ASM for the past 27 years. In addition to co-chairing the recent annual meeting, he has served the society as a member of the international relations, systematic collections, resolutions, and Latin American awards standing committees. He has also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Mammalogy.

Cook uses DNA analyses to study the conservation, evolution and ecology of mammals in western North America. Recently his research has focused on the history of faunal exchange across the Bering Land Bridge by studying mammals and their parasites in Siberia and Alaska. Prior to coming to UNM, Cook served as professor and chair of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University, and more recently, as professor and chief curator at the University of Alaska.

The American Society of Mammalogists was established in 1919 for the purpose of promoting interest in the study of mammals. The ASM is currently composed of more than 4,500 members, many of whom are professional scientists.

For more information, see www.mammalsociety.org.

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