Owen honored by American Ornithological Society

Dr. Jen Owen received her B.S. from University of Montana’s School of Forestry in Wildlife Biology and her Ph.D. from

University of Southern Mississippi, under direction of Frank Moore, Ph.D. Currently she is an associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, where she also serves as the director for the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center and Michigan State Bird Observatory. Owen leads an interdisciplinary research program that addresses issues at the interface of health for wild birds, humans, and the environment.

She investigates the role of migrating birds in the spread and maintenance of zoonotic pathogens. Currently, Owen and her students are studying how variation in habitat quality and access to adequate food affects a bird’s ability to maintain health during migration. Owen is a past AOS Student Research Grant winner and was elected an AOS Elective Member in 2008 and then a Fellow in 2014. 

Owen has served the AOS, as well as its predecessor societies, the AOU and the COS for more than 20 years. She has been especially active in ensuring that our society meets the needs of its members, particularly those early in their careers. Her earliest involvement in AOU was on the ad hoc Committee on AOU Governance (2003–2004), and as a founding member of the AOU Committee on Student Affairs (2003–2004) when she organized the first-ever Student-Professional Mixer. In 2004, Dr. Owen became a founding member of the Early Professionals Committee, and served as Chair of that committee for five years (2015–2020). She also chaired the ad hoc Committee on AOU Membership (2009–2011), as well as the AOU Membership Taskforce Committee (2016). Owen served as an Elected Council Member for the AOU (2011–2013), and also served on the Board of the COS in 2016 as that society joined the AOU to form AOS. She served as editor for Condor: Ornithological Applications (2013–2014), and as an associate editor for Auk (2010–2013).

Following the merger of the AOU and COS to form the AOS, Owen served as the meeting host and primary organizer for the first AOS annual meeting in 2017, held at Michigan State University. She helped the annual meeting model evolve in partnership with a huge array of volunteers, leadership, and AOS staff. She has served on the AOS Investing Trustees Committee (Chair, 2021–present, member 2020–2021), the AOS Finance Committee (2021–present), AOS Audit Committee (2022–present). Most recently Owen was elected as an AOS Elective Councilor for a three-year term commencing after this year’s annual meeting. Loving all things winter—cold, snow, snow sports—Owen will co-lead the university’s study abroad program to Antarctica and will be going for the fifth time this coming winter.

Read the full story in The American Ornithological Society.