Member

Dave was born on June 16, 1942. Dave received a bachelor of science degree in fish and wildlife management in 1964, a master of science degree in wildlife biology in 1967, and a PhD degree in animal ecology (minors: plant ecology and animal physiology) in 1971 from Iowa State University. He began federal employment with seasonal appointments at Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, and Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in North Dakota. He joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permanently in 1972 as a wildlife research biologist at the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. In July 1975, he was promoted to assistant director at Northern Prairie, and in June 1979, he was appointed as the chief, Division of Wildlife Research, in Washington, D.C. In June 1983, Dave transferred to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, where he served as Center Director until 1987, when he was assigned to the position of deputy center director until 1996. Dave led development of the first strategic research plan for the Center. He also participated in the team that planned, designed, and constructed the National Wildlife Visitor Center, a state-of-the-art facility demonstrating the role of research in the conservation and management of wildlife resources. He was instrumental in assisting with the Center’s transition from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the National Biological Service. During 1996 and 1997, Dave joined the headquarters staff and participated in the integration of the National Biological Service into the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1992 to 2001, Dave chaired Research Grade Evaluation Panels for Research and Development in the Fish and Wildlife Service, for the National Biological Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division. Prior to federal employment, Dave held faculty appointments at Iowa State University, where he taught wildlife conservation and environmental biology for five years from 1967 to 1972. He was adjunct professor at George Mason University, where he has taught an advanced seminar in environmental biology and advised graduate students. In addition, Dave chaired the wildlife sciences advisory committee for the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In 2001, when he left federal employment he accepted the position of head of the Natural Resources Program of the Northern Virginia campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. As a wildlife research biologist, Dave led extensive field research on the breeding biology and migrational ecology of diving ducks in Canada and the North Central States. Investigations of the breeding biology of the lesser scaup were conducted between 1966 and 1970 in the Subarctic Taiga near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. From 1972 to 1978, research on canvasbacks was conducted in the Canadian Prairie Parklands and the Upper Mississippi River Valley. He has written more than 60 scientific papers and popular articles based on his research.