Ken Meyer, ARCI Executive Director
Dr. Meyer, who received his B.S. in Zoology from the University of Maine and his Ph.D in Zoology/Behavioral Ecology from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), has studied the conservation biology of birds in Florida and beyond since the 1980’s, beginning with his research on Swallow-tailed Kites, which continues to this day. After serving as a Post-doctoral Associate and then Research Associate at the University of Florida from 1988 to 1992, he conducted studies of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and the bird communities of south Florida pinelands for the National Park Service in Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. In 1997, Ken co-founded ARCI and soon branched out to other research challenges on a broader range of species. He has served on species status-review committees for state agencies and biological review panels for National Wildlife Refuges; and as a graduate student advisor and committee member in his position as an adjunct Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of Florida. Ken, who received a Partners in Flight Research Award for his contributions to bird conservation, provides frequent university guest lectures, conducts training workshops for conservation professionals, and presents many programs each year to citizen conservation groups on ARCI’s research and its implications for bird conservation. He feels very fortunate that, in his many roles for ARCI, he seems to have found the best of many professional worlds.
Gina Kent, Senior Conservation Scientist
Gina Kent has worked for ARCI since 2000. She grew up in Wisconsin and received a B.S. in Wildlife and Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1998. Upon graduation, she served as a field biologist on various studies of birds, reptiles and amphibians, small mammals and invasive plants from New Mexico to New York and Missouri to Australia. Once hired as a seasonal field biologist on ARCI’s Short-tailed Hawk project, Gina became hooked on field studies of birds in Florida. While maintaining her employment with ARCI, she earned her M.S. degree in Biology from Georgia Southern University in 2004 with important research on the stop-over ecology, habitat associations, and parasites of Swallow-tailed Kites. Gina’s results contributed significantly to a substantial expansion by the Mexican government of the Sian Ka’an International Biosphere Reserve, which she documented as the most important stop-over site on the swallow-tail’s 8,000 kilometer southbound migration.Gina became Research Ecologist and Coordinator for ARCI in 2004, assuming field duties of finding and monitoring nests, climbing nest trees, trapping, radio tagging, and tracking birds as part of the organization’s studies of nesting ecology, habitat selection, demography, migration, and conservation biology for over a dozen species. Gina writes proposals and reports, manages telemetry datasets, conducts GIS and data analyses, and hires, trains, and supervises field technicians.
Amanda Powell, Research Ecologist
Amanda Powell grew up in Florida and was originally drawn to birds at age 15, when she took part in her first Christmas Bird Count. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida in 2013, where she also produced an honors thesis on the effects of predator vocalizations on nesting Eastern Bluebirds. In August of 2013, well before graduating, Amanda’s fascination with birds and her strong commitment to conservation led her to ARCI when she met Gina Kent at a birding event and volunteered for Swallow-tailed Kite fieldwork. A variety of voluntary projects and short-term contributions to ARCI’s work eventually led to Amanda’s present full-time employment as a highly capable and ever-enthusiastic research technician. She takes on anything from middle-of-the night field studies of owls, trapping and radio-tagging focal species, to data analyses, artistic production of trapping decoys, and public outreach.
Drew Fulton, Research Associate
Drew Fulton is a photographer and filmmaker with a passion for exploring the natural world and documenting biodiversity. He is dedicated to creating media that highlights natural history and promotes environmental preservation. Growing up in Orlando, he fell in love with the diverse birdlife of Florida at a young age. While at Bowdoin College, he returned to Florida for a five-month photographic residency in Everglades National Park to tell the story of the complex ecology and natural history of the Everglades. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, he spent a year traveling Australia and photographing endemic birds. His project, Canopy in the Clouds, funded by a National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant, created a bilingual environmental education program centered on the canopy of the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Drew has returned to Australia to work with National Geographic photographer Tim Laman on multiple projects focused on the remote Cape York peninsula. His skills as a tree climber, photographer, and educator has taken him to Borneo with a group of Cornell University students, to Papua New Guinea on a biodiversity survey, and off the coast of Turkey documenting the excavation of a 2,000-year old Roman shipwreck. His recent work has taken him to Madagascar, Thailand, Ecuador, and Cyprus for a diverse range of projects. He has recently returned to Florida and currently lives in Gainesville.
Additional Employees and Colleagues
We are grateful to these employees and colleagues for their assistance on our studies over the years:
Evan Adams, Lindsay Alsup, Steve Alsup, John Andrews, Chrissy Apodaca, John Arnett, Charlie Bails, Fay Baird, Arthur Barbosa and family, Lori Barjaktarovic, Sonny BassRob Bennetts, Suzanne Beyeler, Andrea Bowling, Emily Brodsky, Billy Brooks, Jeffrey Buler, Emily Butler, Danny Caudill, Gretchen Caudill, Dan Cavanaugh, Ray Chandler, Britt Cline, Chris Cock, Angela Cone, Jennifer Coulson, Phil Darby, Andy Day, Tim Dellinger, Rachel Dellinger, Dean Demarest, Chris Depkin, Joe Dirodio, Mary Dowdell, Annie DoyleJamie Duberstein, Karen Dyer, Michelle Eckman, Rachel Endicott, Dave EversJason Fidorra, Omar Figueroa, Peter Frederick, Marvin Friel, Dave Gallagher, Gavin Gallagher, Grace Gasper, Char Gregg, Julia Gruber, Christy Hand, Mike Harris, Chifuyu Hawksby, Patty Hernandez, Julio and Claudio Higuchi, Sarah HudsonChuck Hunter, Deborah Jansen, Dawn Jennings, Richard Johnson, Greg Kaufman, Adam Kent, Patty Kennedy, Tim Keyes, Jeff Kingscott, Arturo Kirkconnell, Frances Lane, Renata Leite, Dave Leonard, Kris Lightner, Casey Lott, Steve Lowrimore, Katy Lyons, Barbara MacKinnon, Peter Mahoney, Heather Mahoney, Bill Marrs, Jason Martin, Steven McGehee, Margo McKnight, Brian Mealey, Greta Mealey, Jonee Miller, Karl Miller, Brian Millsap, Libby Mojica, Pete Monte, Rua Mordecai, Tim Morris, Steve Morrison, Tiago Moura, Tetsuo No, Rosemary and Joselino, Frank Ogborn, Jay Pettit, Frank Plett, Ming Lee Prospero, Tatiana Ramirez, Rafael Reyna*B, radley Richardson, Bill Robertson, Elena Sachs, Felicia Sanders, Craig Sasser, Stacie Schoppman, Gary Slater *, Caleb Spiegel, Diana Swan, Ros T’sai, Jeremy Tarwater, Michel Therrien, Sarah Trefry, Emily Toriani-Moura, Andrew Walde, Jay Walea, Jody Warwin, Audrey Washburn*, Howard Weinberg, Bethany Wight, Emily Jo Williams, Kate Williams, Tom Wilmers, Larry Wood, Stepen Woodley, Len Zeoli
*Employed for several seasons