Robert Waide, LNO Executive Director

Robert B. Waide Professor of Biology Executive Director, Long Term Ecological Research Network Office MSC03 2020 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 Phone: 505/277-2649 Fax: 505/277-2541 Email: rwaide@lternet.edu

Responsibilities

As Executive Director of the LTER Network Office, Bob manages a staff of 14 who work in support of the LTER mission. His responsibilities include:

• Facilitating cross-site and network-wide research efforts with each of the 26 LTER sites
• Representing the Network in interactions with NSF, other government agencies, international networks, foreign governments, Congress, and the media
• Identifying and pursuing new opportunities to advance science in the LTER Network
• Working to increase the influence of LTER science on public policy
• Planning for the long-term future of the LTER program.

Committees

Bob serves on the following committees:

• The LTER Executive and Coordinating Committees (ex officio)
• The Network Information System Advisory Committee
• The 2006 All Scientists Meeting Program Committee, of which he is co-chair

Education

After undergraduate work at the University of Illinois, Bob received his M.S. and PhD in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin, focusing on tropical ecology.

Professional Background

A post-doctoral position at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh led to a research appointment in the Terrestrial Ecology Division at the Center for Energy and Environment Research of the University of Puerto Rico, where he became Director of the Terrestrial Ecology Division (later renamed the Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies) in 1982. He was one of the founding scientists and the original principal investigator for the Luquillo Experimental Forest LTER program, which was funded in 1988. He continued in that position until 1997, when he moved to the LNO at the University of New Mexico. He is a Professor in the Department of Biology at UNM.

Research

Bob's research spans a variety of topics, including:

1. Long-term population dynamics of tropical organisms
2. Trophic dynamics in tropical ecosystems
3. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function
4. The effect of changes in land use and land cover on regional climate
5. The relationship among abiotic gradients, disturbance, and ecosystem structure and function
6. The use of remotely-sensed data to estimate biodiversity

Personal

Bob's wife and companion of 28 years, Valli Rivera, his daughters, Valiangelic and Dayanara, and his granddaughter Mia are the joys of his life, and occupy his non-work moments. He is involved in his wife's theater career as a driver, roadie, and part-time critic. In Puerto Rico, he and Valli wrote scripts for a television comedy show, but here he confines his sense of humor to the workplace. In his spare time, Bob likes to hike and golf. He is a fan of the Chicago Cubs.