RESEARCH INTERESTS

Environmental Science/Studies; Ecological Restoration; Extinctions; Mathematical and Conceptual Modeling; The Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of Vertebrates

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS

As of the start of Winter 2007-2008 quarter, I have room in my lab for 2-3 graduate students and 1-2 undergraduates.

I’m especially interested in student collaborators with a background or interest in computer programming, mathematics, statistics/biometry, predator ecology and conservation, ecological restoration, environmental law, environmental ethics, writing, and/or editing.

I’m looking to work with a range of students who contribute particular expertise to an overall team effort on a variety of short- and medium-term projects, involving everything from theoretical work/modeling to field work (e.g., predator censusing and interactions, ecological restoration in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems).

If my work interests you, please contact me, regardless of your background. It’s been my experience that inclination and attitude are often more important qualifications than undergraduate majors or work experience.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution, August 2007. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. Advisor: Lev R. Ginzburg.

Dissertation: “Modeling Biotic Causes of Extinction: Vertebrate Case Studies at the Intersection of Evolutionary Ecology, Paleontology, and Conservation Biology”

Ph.D. in English, September 1998. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Dissertation: “Science, the Supernatural, and the Postmodern Impulse in Contemporary Fiction” (Disciplines central to this study include environmental studies, evolutionary biology, and the history and philosophy of science.)

Areas of Emphasis: Science and Literature; Theory and Practice of Writing Instruction; Creative Writing; Twentieth-Century Literature

M.A. in English, May 1991. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

B.A. in English, May 1987. Colgate University, Hamilton, NY.

SELECT TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science, School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University. Ruston, LA. 2007 to present. Courses:

Research Methods in the Biological Sciences (Graduate)

Current Topics: Extinction (Graduate Seminar; Winter 2007-2008)

Ecology (Winter 2007-2008)

Mentor, Independent undergraduate student research project on the ecological modeling of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions. School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University. Ruston, LA. 2007; Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University. Stony Brook, NY. 2006.

Co-Instructor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University. Stony Brook, NY. 2006. Courses:

Darwinian Medicine

Teaching Assistant, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University. Stony Brook, NY. 2004 to 2007. Lab instructor. Courses:

Applied Population Ecology and Conservation Biology Lab

Assistant Professor of English and Environmental Studies, University of Maine at Fort Kent, Fort Kent, ME. Restructured the English program, developing a writing concentration and designing and offering a variety of new writing and literature courses for biology and environmental studies majors; directed and co-directed student work on senior projects. 1999 to 2003. Select courses taught (courses marked with an asterisk are of my own design):

American Nature Writing

Business and Technical Writing

Environmental Literature (collaboratively designed)

Environmental Studies Practicum

Extinctions (Honors Seminar) *

Science and Nature Writing I and II*

Wilderness Ethics (collaboratively designed)

Wildlife Rehabilitation* (collaboratively taught)

(An additional 12 writing, editing, and literature classes are not listed.)

Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. 1992 to 1993.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Ginzburg, L.R., C.X.J. Jensen, and J.V. Yule. Aiming the “unreasonable effectiveness of

mathematics” at ecology. Ecological Modelling 207(2007): 356-362.

Yule, J.V. 2002. Cloning the extinct: restoration as ecological prostheses. Common

Ground 1.2: 6-9.

Articles In Preparation for Peer Review

Yule, J.V. Extinction as predator removal: intraguild competitive cascades, mesopredator

release, and a paleoecological perspective for conservation biology. Conservation

Biology.

Yule, J.V., C.X.J. Jensen, and A. Joseph*. A simple, parsimonious Late Pleistocene

megafaunal extinction model. To be submitted to Ecology Letters. (* A. Joseph is

an undergraduate researcher.)

Select Book Reviews

2007. Michael J. Everhart, The Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western

Interior Sea. Copeia 2: 498-500.

2006. Paul S. Martin, Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding

of America. Conservation Biology. 20.4: 1326-1328.

2006. Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson, Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to

Yellowstone. Quarterly Review of Biology. 81.2: 189.

2006. Ilkka Hanski, The Shrinking World: Ecological Consequences of Habitat Loss.

Quarterly Review of Biology. 81.1: 79.

2004. David W. Schwimmer, King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of

Deinosuchus. Herpetological Review 35.3: 299-300.

2003. Jordi Agustí and Mauricio Antón, Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids: 65

Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe. Journal of Mammalogy 84.1:

333-334.

Select Popular Articles and Essays

1998. Mammals in the age of reptiles and reptiles in the age of mammals: a natural

historian’s perspective. Reptile & Amphibian Jan./Feb.: 24-34.

1996. Reptile-associated Salmonella: two recent cases in context.” Reptile & Amphibian

Sept./Oct.: 84-96.

1998. Reprinted in Kansas Herpetological Society Newsletter. March: 6-10.

SELECT PRESENTATIONS

Yule, J.V. 2007. Pleistocene Canids, Extinction, and Intrguild Competition: A

Paleoecological Perspective for Conservation Biology. Ecological Society of

America Meeting, San Jose, CA.

Yule, J.V., Christopher X.J. Jensen, and L.R. Ginzburg. 2005. Transparency and

minimalism: ecological modeling of Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions.

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting, Mesa, AZ.

Yule, J.V. 2005. Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions: models and implications.

Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference, Pennsylvania State University.

State College, PA.

Yule, J.V. 2001. Environmental Postmodernism: Ursula Le Guin’s Always Coming

Home as Assessment of Contemporary Technoscience. Twentieth-Century

Literature Conference. Louisville, KY.

Yule, J.V. 1995. Critiquing Science and Its Transmission: Information as Noise in Don

DeLillo’s White Noise. Society for Literature and Science Conference. Los

Angeles, CA.

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND HONORS

Turkana Basin Summer Fellowship. 2006.

National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, Honorable Mention. 2005.

Presidential Fellowship, Stony Brook University. 2004-2007.

University of Maine System Developmental Grant. 2001.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Field Crew Member. Leakey Expedition. Plio-Pleistocene, Koobi Fora Formation, Turkana Basin, Kenya. Summer 2006.

Research Associate, Applied Biomathematics, Setauket, NY. Late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction modeling; modeling of ecological effects of intraguild carnivore extinctions; ratio-dependent predator-prey and trophic level interaction modeling. Summer 2005.

Fossil Preparator. Stony Brook University Vertebrate Fossil Preparation Lab. Stony Brook, NY. Summer 2004.

SELECT EDITORIAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Instructor, GRE Verbal/Writing Preparation Class. Assisted students under represented in American higher education with GRE exam preparation. Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Office, Center for Inclusive Education. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. 2005.

National Science Foundation (NSF) Predoctoral Fellowship Application Mentor. Provided individual assistance for under represented students applying for NSF predoctoral fellowships via an NSF-funded program. AGEP Office, Center for Inclusive Education. Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. 2005.

Founding Editor, Common Ground. Developed an electronic, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary environmental studies journal, serving as a mentor and supervisor to student departmental editors and staff members. This biannual publication, which publishes articles, essays, fiction, poetry, book reviews, and interviews, is accessible at http://www.cmsu.edu/commonground/issues/archive/1_1/articles/article2.htm. 1999 to 2003.