Richard Stevens, a professor of ecology and conservation biology with Texas Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management has been elected to the American Society of Mammalogists' Board of Directors. The honor was announced on Tuesday (July 2) at the 99th annual meeting of the professional group in Washington, DC.

Established in 1919, the American Society of Mammalogists is composed of some 2,500 members, many of whom are professional scientists. The group has a strong involvement in providing information for public policy, resources management, conservation and education.

Today, Stevens has an active and high-profile research program underway at Texas Tech. Last year the Texas Department of Transportation turned to Stevens to study how highway infrastructure positively influences bat distribution. TxDOT contracted with Stevens and his research team for almost $383,000 to study the multitude of bat species in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, which has the state's greatest number of bat species, to determine why and how bats choose certain bridges and culverts as their roosting spots.

Stevens, who also serves as one of Texas Tech's President's Excellence in Research Professors and Assistant Curator of Mammals with the Museum of Texas Tech University, joined the faculty in 2014 after serving as an associate professor with Louisiana State University's Department of Biological Sciences and an adjunct professor with Mississippi State University's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Among his honors are serving as a member of the American Society of Mammalogists' Board of Directors (2009-2011, 2012-2014) and associate editor of the Journal of Mammalogy (2009-2016). He is past-president of the Texas Society of Mammalogists (2017-2018). He serves on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) expert panel for mammals of Paraguay. Awards for Stevens include the American Society of Mammalogists Award (2001), and the Wilks Award from the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (1999).

He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from Texas Tech. His doctorate in biology is also from Texas Tech. He is a member of Ecological Society of America, American Society of Mammalogists, North American Society for Bat Research, Texas Society of Mammalogists and the Southwestern Association of Naturalists.

CONTACT: Richard Stevens, Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6843 or richard.stevens@ttu.edu

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