Dr. Bern Sweeney, Ph.D.

Dr. Bern Sweeney is Director, President, and Senior Research Scientist at the Stroud Water Research Center, an independent research institution focused on stream and river ecology located in Pennsylvania. He is also vice president of the Asociación Centro de Investigación Stroud, a non-profit Costa Rican corporation established to facilitate research and educational programs related to tropical stream ecology. He has an adjunct Professor appointment at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Sweeney holds a B.S. in Biology from Delaware Valley University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has published on the following: the role of water quality monitoring in conservation, population, and community ecology of temperate and tropical aquatic invertebrates, pollution assessment in temperate and tropical streams using macroinvertebrates, the role of streamside forests in the structure and function of stream and river ecosystems, factors affecting the growth and survivorship of trees in riparian forests, the effects of global warming on stream ecosystems, genetic variation and gene flow among populations of stream insects, DNA barcoding of aquatic macroinverebrates, the effects of diel and seasonal temperature change on aquatic insect populations, bioenergetics and secondary production of aquatic insects, and the bioassay of toxic materials in aquatic systems. He received the 2003 National Award of Excellence in Conservation from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service for his research and work on the restoration of streams and their riparian corridors. In 2006, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Margaret Douglas National Medal from the Garden Club of America for achievement in conservation education. He was appointed in 2008 to co-lead the Freshwater section of the International DNA Barcode for Life project. He is past president of the Society for Freshwater Science, currently co-chairman of the Society's Taxonomic Certification Program, and on the Strategic Planning Committee for the journal. He received the Society's Distinguished Service Award in 2010. He was elected an honorary member of the Garden Club of America in 2010 for his work on riparian forest restoration and received the 2013 Forest Champion Award from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay for innovative methods inspiring people to act on behalf of forests and improve forest health. He was named the Conservation Individual of the Year for 2014 by the Berks County Conservation District of Pennsylvania. He also serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Farm Foundation (currently president) and on the outside advisory committee for the Brandywine Conservancy and the Jones Ecological Center. He is a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board panel for Mountaintop Mining.