Berg receives Excellence in Scholarship award

April 14, 2008

Dr. David Berg, Professor of Zoology, has received the MUH Excellence in Scholarship award for 2007-08.

The award is imparted by the Faculty Concerns Committee to faculty members who demonstrate excellence in research, scholarship and creative activity.

“Dr. Berg epitomizes the teacher/scholar model for which Miami University is recognized,” said Dr. Douglas Meikle, Professor and Chair, Department of Zoology and one of several people who nominated Berg.

 

Endangered species focus of effort

Berg received the award for his accomplishments in conservation genetics, mentoring students, and overall contributions to the intellectual climate of Miami University.

He recently published a set of journal articles about freshwater mussels in the rivers of New Mexico and West Texas, which are among the most endangered species in North America.

“Dr. Berg’s work has been critical to our understanding of the factors contributing to their decline,” Meikle said.

Berg has acquired more than $1.5 million in external grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the World Wildlife Fund.

With Berg as principal investigator, Miami Hamilton recently was awarded a $340,000 research grant from the NSF to study patterns of biodiversity in Chihuahuan Desert springs—at a time when funding rates at the NSF are less than 10 percent. The team is monitoring populations of the endangered Texas hornshell mussel from the Black River of New Mexico and other invertebrates from springs throughout the Chihuahuan Desert.

Freshwater mussels are the most imperiled group of animals in North America, with 70 percent of 300 species considered endangered or threatened. Berg’s research examines processes by which populations grow and decline, focusing on mussels in the Mississippi River basin. This work has been supported by the Lake Erie Protection Fund (created from the sale of Ohio license plates depicting a Lake Erie lighthouse) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He has published more than 30 papers in high-impact journals such as Molecular Biology, Conservation Biology, and Limnology and Oceanography.

 

Mentoring students as scholars in the field

Berg mentors the research activities of a large number of undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows, collaborating with them on dozens of papers and presentations at professional meetings.

Berg also co-coordinates Miami’s involvement in the NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program on Ecology in Human-Dominated Landscapes. This project, recipient of about $750,000 from the NSF and now starting its seventh year, provides research opportunities to eight undergraduate students each summer.

Dr. John Williams, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Miami Hamilton’s Coordinator for Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Education, Health & Society, also nominated Berg. Williams said Berg’s scholarly activities have a significant impact on his discipline.

“Through his involvement with the prestigious National Science Foundation REU, he continues to play an important role in the development of future scholars—as does his personal mentoring of post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students. His extensive role as NFS panelist, as well as publishing and serving as an active reviewer and editor for regional and national journals, also indicates a major impact on his discipline,” Williams said.