Prof. Alonso Ramirez elected President of the Society of Freshwater Science

The Society of Freshwater Science (SFS) recently held their annual meeting in Salt Lake City where researchers, professionals, and students gather to discuss the latest research and form collaborative projects.

These meetings also host elections for the society’s governance, and Prof. Alonso Ramirez was voted as President-elect of the prestigious society.  The 3-year position comes as no surprise to those who work with Prof. Ramirez, as his lab’s cutting-edge research coupled with a strong emphasis on extension parallel the mission of SFS.

“Becoming president is an honor and it will increase the exposure and visibility of our research and students in the scientific community,” said Prof. Ramirez – and he’s taking that research to the other end of the world. “SFS used to be called the North American Benthological Society.  I hope to be able to aid the society in becoming a more global organization.  One of my main tasks is to organize the annual meeting in Australia, which will be the first time the society meets outside of North America.”

The 1800-member society was founded in 1953 and publishes Freshwater Science and the monthly general audience podcast, Making Waves.

Prof. Ramirez’s career in ecology began as all scientists do – as a curious child.  “My love of streams started in my home country, Costa Rica, where I was fascinated with dragonflies as a child.  As an undergraduate student at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, I had the opportunity to study dragonfly nymphs and wrote my undergraduate thesis on dragonfly nymph taxonomy.  My interest in taxonomy quickly expanded to aquatic insect ecology and stream ecosystems.  I had the good fortune to join the Society of Freshwater Science (then NABS) early in my graduate career.  Attending the SFS annual meeting has remained a highpoint for me each year!  Another group/network close to my heart is Macrolatinos@, a network of 500+ freshwater scientists from Latin American that I co-founded in 2012.  Both SFS and Macrolatinos@ have, in common, a strong feeling of belonging among their memberships.  Once you join and participate, you are part of the family!”

You can follow the super-active Ramirez Lab on twitter – and hey, why not tweet the professor a congrats?

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