Bob Parmenter is the Preserve Scientist for the Valles Caldera Trust in northern New Mexico, and is responsible for organizing and coordinating the research, inventory and monitoring programs on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. He also is a member of the Valles Caldera Trust’s executive management team, which has the advantage of “placing science at the table” during strategic and programmatic planning and decision-making. In addition to his Trust duties, Bob also holds an associate research professorship position with the University of New Mexico’s Department of Biology in Albuquerque, an adjunct faculty member in the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University, and an adjunct professor faculty position in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University. His scientific research interests include studies on ecosystem disturbance, climatic influences on plant and animal populations, successional processes, plant-animal interactions, predator-prey relationships of both vertebrates and invertebrates, decomposition and nutrient cycling, and the ecology of zoonotic diseases (specifically hantavirus, plague, and West Nile virus). Bob received his Bachelor’s degree from Colorado College in 1974, a Master’s Degree in Zoology from the University of Georgia in 1978, and his Ph.D. in Biology/Ecology from Utah State University in 1982.