Tim Hatten: Chief Executive Officer and PresidentTim received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Entomology from the University of Idaho and Washington State University, respectively. His research focused on 1) the response of pest and natural enemies to management practices in agroecosystems, and 2) the epigeal beetle fauna of the highly fragmented Palouse Prairie and surrounding matrix habitats. After receiving his B.S. in Natural Resources Management from the University of Arizona, Tim spent two years in Niger, West Africa with the US Peace Corps doing village development projects for the Djarma tribe. He then worked for 10 years with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, six of these years acting as liaison to the US EPA’s Agriculture Initiative. With the Agriculture Initiative, Tim worked in interdisciplinary teams developing private/public partnerships to solve agricultural pollution problems. Tim has a strong interest and expertise in stream and estuarine ecology,with a Society for Freshwater Science’s Certificate In The Taxonomy Of Western EPT and experience in the development of mass-length regression- and secondary production-models for macroinvertebrates and flow-web analyses. Tim is Adjunct Faculty in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Idaho, and is the Instructor for Insect Ecology 441/541. His leisure time is spent reading science fiction novels, collecting insects, and participating in all kinds of outdoor play. Tim is very involved in prairie conservation issues and is member of the Palouse Prairie Foundation and the Idaho Native Plant Society.
Jill Maxwell: Principal Owner and Chief Operations Officer
Jill is the principal owner of Invertebrate Ecology Inc. and spends a good deal of her time operating Invertebrate Ecology, including: Website development, contracts and grants, SAMS updates, outreach material, networking and behind-the-scene issues. Jill has more than 20 years experience as a program manager, writer, editor, and web developer. She has worked in several environmental organizations in California and Idaho. She has a Masters of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis, in Community Development and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her thesis focused on how local communities organized themselves to respond to environmental challenges they faced. Jill spent two years in Niger, West Africa with the US Peace Corps doing village development projects. In her spare time, she enjoys x-county skiing, reading and community radio.
Roderick “Rod” Sprague IV: Taxonomist
Rod has a Bachelors in Entomology from the University of Idaho. He has developed a thorough grounding in curatorial technique and the taxonomy of numerous insects and other arthropods while working for more than 15 years in the University of Idaho’s W. F. Barr Entomological Museum. Rod has experience in the taxonomy of Western EPT and mollusks and is the acting Quality Control inspector for sub-sampling procedures in the laboratory. His interests include fields such as herpetology, botany and mycology, with the later filed including the avid collecting and eating native mushrooms. Rod is an electronics hobbyist. He has built numerous odd devices and is the sound engineer at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse (UUCP). He is also interested in astronomy, space flight and physics. He plays the pennywhistle, recorder and saxophone and sings in the UUCP choir.
Professional Roster
Listed below are two such members of our professional roster.
Russ Biggam: Taxonomist
Russ has extensive professional experience in aquatic and terrestrial entomology. After receiving his B.S. in entomology from the University of Idaho, he worked as a Scientific Aid for numerous faculty members over a 40 year period. In this capacity he helped conduct invertebrate-related research studies in numerous habitats (aquatic and terrestrial) and bioregions. His responsibilities included sampling, identifying and storing terrestrial and benthic invertebrates, as well as recording and inputting all invertebrate and environmental data into spreadsheets and databases. In addition, Russ has contracted-out his expertise to private companies mandated to perform bioassessments of regional streams, including the Plum Creek Timber Company. While Russ’ background is broad and extensive, his strongest area of expertise is taxonomy of benthic macroinvertebrates. Mr. Biggam does not have SFS certifications as he felt this to be a superfluous certification given his 40 years of experience with the University of Idaho and 5 years with Invertebrate Ecology. In addition, having been responsible for running the aquatics labs for Dr. Merle Brusven and Dr. James “Ding” Johnson when the University of Idaho was known for its aquatic entomology program, Russ has strong teaching and instructional skills. Indeed, Russ helped to train many of the taxonomist associated with the larger taxonomy labs in our area. Russ has also published a number of papers in the scientific literature (see PUBLICATIONS BY PERSONNEL).