President: Lucy Johnson

Lucy Johnson is Professor of Anthropology at Vassar College.  As an Anthropologist/archaeologist, she focuses in the prehistory of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and in prehistoric and historic sites in the mid-Hudson Valley, New York with topical interest in the prehistoric interaction of people and their environments.  Dr. Johnson is Secretary of the Board of Directors, Poughkeepsie Day School; Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee, Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities; and a founding member and President of the Board of IDEA, the Independent Dutchess Energy Alliance.

Vice President: Chuck Nieder

Chuck Nieder has been a biologist for NYSDEC since 1991 and has focused his career on aquatic resource assessment and protection.  He currently works in the Bureau of Habitat in Albany working to minimize the adverse impacts on aquatic resources caused by industry’s use of New York State waters for industrial cooling. Previously, Mr. Nieder held the research coordinator position at the NYSDEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve where he worked on aquatic habitat inventory, change and ecological assessment.  He developed and managed research and monitoring programs for the Reserve and managed several long-term research and monitoring programs on the Hudson River estuary. Mr. Nieder has authored and co-authored several journal papers on Hudson River estuarine ecology and holds an M.S. in Ecology from Rutgers University.

Treasurer: James Morrison

James Morrison is a vice president with HDR Engineering, Inc, an environmental science and engineering consulting company based in Pearl River, New York. Living in Marlboro, New York, James Morrison has been a resident of the Hudson Valley for over 35 years. After graduating from the State University College at Oswego with a degree in biology, Jim’s career as an environmental scientist has spanned 36 years. During those 36 years, he has been actively involved with managing environmental studies on the waterways of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, including studies on the Hudson River, New York/New Jersey Harbors, the East River, the Connecticut River, and Long Island Sound.
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Secretary: John Thompson

John Thompson is Director of Conservation Science on Mohonk Preserve's Daniel Smiley Research Center. John performs baseline monitoring of the ecology of the northern Shawangunk Mountains and directs implementation of land management planning to protect and adaptively steward the 7000 acre Mohonk Preserve and promote biodiversity conservation at the landscape scale. he works with researchers and partner organizations to use scientific information to inform conservation throughout the 30,000 acres of protected land in the Shawangunk Mountains. He collects information on weather, flora and fauna and is analyzing that data to look at long-term climate trends and effects on local plants and animals. Other major projects include vegetation studies of prescribed fires, rare species monitoring, and invasive species management. John serves as Vice President on the John Burroughs Natural History Society Board of Trustees.

Chris DeRoberts is an Environmental Coordinator for Central Hudson Gas and Electric where he is part of a team responsible for managing environmental compliance throughout the company. He primarily works on stream and wetland permitting for any number of transmission, distribution and substation projects (gas and electric upgrades and new siting) as well as all environmental assessments needed in order to obtain local, state and federal approval for such projects. He previously worked for the Putnam County Soil and Water Conservation District and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburgh.

William Dey is vice president and senior environmental scientist with ASA Analysis & Communication, Inc., an environmental consulting company headquartered in Washingtonville, NY. Mr. Dey has more than 35 years of experience in the assessment of environmental impacts in aquatic systems, much of which was focused on the Hudson River Estuary. Over this time, he has directed or participated in many state-of-the-art aquatic monitoring and impact assessment studies throughout the United States.

Emilie Hauser has been the Coordinator of the Hudson River Estuary Training Program at the NYSDEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve since 2002. She provides science based information and trainings for local officials, resource managers, and others concerned about the Hudson Estuary. She has collaborated on several HRES events, including Rising Salt Levels in Tributaries of the Hudson Estuary in 2004 and State of the Hudson in 2009. Before that, she held several positions in recycling and household hazardous waste at the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency. She holds a combined bachelors degree in astronomy and geology from Mount Holyoke and M.S. in earth and space sciences from Stony Brook University. She is a member and recent secretary on the Mid-Hudson Region League of Women Voters and serves on several sustainability committees in Kingston. She loves the Hudson River, including walking on it, when she uses her family’s antique (circa1869) Hudson River ice yacht,Puff.

Karin Limburg, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Her doctoral thesis from Cornell University (1994) investigated the ecology of emigrating juvenile American shad in the Hudson. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (now Cary Institute). She has conducted research on a number of other diadromous species in the Hudson River estuary, including river herring, American eel, and striped bass and other fishes. She has also studied the process and ocnsequences of urbanization in the Hudson Valley. As a grad student, Karin was the recipient of Polgar and Hudson River Foundation fellowships; she has since sponsored seven students in the Polgar Fellowship program and one in the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve Fellowship program. She has taught a field course titled "The Hudson River Watershed: Source to Sink in Eight Days," and has taught courses on watershed ecology that use the Hudson as the focus. Karin served on the HRES Board from 1994-1996 and helped to develop a conference on the history of the Hudson River estuary. Her current Hudson River research involves studies to support shad and river herring recovery.

Emma Rosi-Marshall is an Aquatic Ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies where she conducts research on factors that control and influence ecosystem function in human-dominated ecosystems. Freshwater is one of our most vital and threatened resources; understanding how human-driven global change impacts freshwater ecosystem function is essential. Dr. Rosi-Marshall's research focuses on several aspects of human modifications to freshwater ecosystems such as land use change and restoration, widespread agriculture and associated crop byproducts, urbanization and the release of novel contaminants, and hydrologic modifications associated with dams. Dr. Rosi-Marshall holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Douglad Robinson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Mount Saint Mary College (Newburgh, NY), and teaches animal behavior and human anatomy and physiology. His interests include avian behavioral ecology, natural history, and environmental sustainability. Dr. Robinson has been studying the biology of American crows for the last 12 years and is currently investigating the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in crows in the mid-Hudson Valley. In addition to studies in North America, Dr. Robinson also leads study abroad courses to New Zealand.

Mark Vian has worked as a restoration ecologist for the NYCDEP Stream Management Program since 1995, where he helps coordinate community-based watershed plans, geomorphically-based stream restorations, and research and educational programs on water resources issues. Before coming to DEP, he worked as a research associate with the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, and with NGOs facilitating community-based natural resource management and development in Africa and Latin America. He has served on the board of HRES since 2007, and currently chairs the Program Committee.