Board Member (Kirby, VT)
Alan is a Professor of Biology and Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at Northern Vermont University where he has worked since 2006. Prior to entering academia he was a wildlife biologist in Washington, Oregon, and California where he studied a variety of species including the California condor, northern spotted owl, northern pygmy-owl, and American bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and California condor. He holds degrees in biology, wildlife ecology, and conservation genetics from UC Santa Cruz, Oregon State University, and Arizona State University, respectively. His current research interests include ticks and tick-borne diseases, invasive species, and ant distributions.
For nine years Alan was the Director and Principle Investigator for the Vermont Science Initiative, a grant funded organization that provided training in science education to pre-K through 8th grade teachers. He has served as an Assistant Director of the Vermont State Science, Engineering, and Math Fair, and as the Vermont Coordinator for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. From 2009-2013 he served on the Board of the Passumpsic Valley Land Trust.
Alan grew up in central NY, and developed a love of mountain adventure in the Adirondacks, Greens, Whites, and Shawangunks. Mountaineering has taken him to four continents where he has scaled high-altitude peaks in South America, vertical walls in Yosemite, mixed routes in the Alps, and sea cliffs in Wales. As a wildlife biologist in Washington he lived close to Mt Rainier, which he once summited three times in one week, by three different routes, with different out-of-town guests each time. He still loves to be in the mountains, and regularly skis up and down Burke Mtn before work.
Alan lives in Kirby, VT with his wife, two daughters, dog Terra, cat Ivy, a half dozen big brown bats that roost in the soffit, and a family of raccoons that occupy the big hollow maple out back.