Safe Meeting

The American Ornithological Society (AOS) welcomes everyone to the AOS 2025 meeting and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We are dedicated to providing an inclusive environment that is collaborative, supportive, and engaging for everyone involved, and that is free of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. We expect all participants to support our mission by being respectful and considerate of each other, providing supportive critique, and embracing the multitude of opinions that are offered.

Please refer to our Meeting Code of Conduct Policy for information on how to report code of conduct violations. Contact the AOS 2025 Safe Meeting Committee at this email address safe-meeting@americanornithology.org or through this Google Form.

Jeanne Fair, Chair

Scientist, B-GEN, Los Alamos National Laboratory
she/her

Jeanne Fair is a scientist in Modeling and Observations of Earth Systems with a focus in epidemiology and animal disease ecology. Dr. Fair’s research interest is to support biosurveillance and zoonotic infectious disease detection capabilities in wildlife, animals, and humans. This includes the impacts of environmental stress and change on infectious diseases and vector range movement. In 2011, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Guidelines for the Use of Wild Birds in Research for the United States and served for ten years as Chair of the Los Alamos Institutional Animal and Use Committee (IACUC).

Jen Walsh

Research Associate, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
she/her/hers

Jen Walsh is a Research Associate in the Fuller Evolutionary Biology Lab at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Jen has been a member of AOS since 2008, and has served on several committees within the society. Her research focuses on applying genomic tools to address questions in avian ecology, evolution, and conservation with a focus on the genomics of adaptation to harsh environmental conditions.

Jenn Houtz

Assistant Professor, Allegheny College
she/her

Dr. Jenn Houtz is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Allegheny College. She studies stress physiology and gut microbiomes in wild songbirds. She is the co-chair of the Early Professionals Committee and a member of the Safe Meeting Committee.

Ex officio members

Judith Scarl

Executive Director, AOS
she/her

Dr. Judith Scarl joined AOS as executive director and CEO in July 2021. She brings years of experience developing partnerships with state and federal agencies and non-profit organizations to identify common goals and develop a unified voice for bird conservation. Most recently, she served as the U.S. Coordinator for the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and the Bird Conservation Program Manager of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA). Judith has a strong passion for and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in science and conservation, indispensable assets for the AOS and ornithology.

Chris Anne Handel

Communications and Marketing Manager, AOS
she/her

Chris Anne joined the AOS in June of 2020. For more than 30 years, she’s worked as a communicator and marketer, developing communications plans for various organizations, including governmental agencies, nonprofits, and both private and publicly traded corporations. She has co-developed and deployed NASA-mission-based STEAM curriculum in K–12 and institutional environments across the U.S., while mentoring a new generation of female science educators and communicators. When she’s not avidly enjoying the Colorado outdoors, sustainably gardening, or practicing yoga in her free time, she’s likely working on paintings and drawings of animals.