Michael Runge, Ph.D.
Michael Runge is a research ecologist at the Eastern Ecological Science Center, where he has worked since 1999.
Professional Experience
2001-present Research Ecologist at USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center (Previously Patuxent Wildlife Research Center)
2009 to 2010 visiting scientist at the University of Melbourne, School of Botany
1989 to 1994 taught math and science at St. Francis High School in Louisville, Kentucky
Education and Certifications
B.A. in biology and philosophy (1989) from the Johns Hopkins University
M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) in biology (1994) from Spalding University
Ph.D. in wildlife science (1999),with minors in biometrics and agricultural economics, from Cornell University
Honors and Awards
Regional Director’s Award for Excellence in Communication. USGS Western Region. November 2007. “In recognition of outstanding science leading to enhanced understanding of the relation bet
Unit Award for Excellence of Service. U.S. Department of Interior. November 2007. In recognition of the outstanding contributions of the International Polar Bear Science Team
Unit Award for Excellence of Service. U.S. Department of Interior. September 2007. In recognition of introducing the adaptive management initiative across the Department
Regional Director’s Conservation Award, USFWS Region 4. May 2007. For contributions to and partnership in the science and recovery efforts of the Florida manatee.
Extraordinary Contribution. Chief, National Wildlife Refuge System, USFWS. June 2003. For extraordinary contributions to Fulfilling the Promise.
Superior Service Award. United States Department of Interior. October 2005. For making your science available to natural resource managers for use in their management decisions
STAR Award - USFWS Region 5. June 2004. For outstanding contributions to improving wildlife management science on National Wildlife Refuges
STAR Award - USGS. August 2003. For supporting the USFWS in the manatee incidental take rule-making.
STAR Award - PWRC, U.S. Geological Survey. January 2002. For helping organize and present the Adaptive Management Workshop at the 2001 Wildlife Society Meeting.
STAR Award - PWRC, U.S. Geological Survey. January 2002. For helping organize and present the Adaptive Management Workshop at the 2001 Wildlife Society Meeting.
Gamma Sigma Delta. Cornell University. Election, May 1998.
Delta Epsilon Sigma. Spalding University. Election, April 1994.
Phi Beta Kappa. Johns Hopkins University. Election, March 1988.
Presidential Scholar. The White House. June 1985.
Science and Products
Modeling, Estimation, and Adaptive Management of Florida Manatees
Adaptive Management for Threatened and Endangered Species
Structured Decision Making: Methods, Applications, and Capacity-Building
Structured decision making
Vote-processing rules for combining control recommendations from multiple models
Vote-processing rules for combining control recommendations from multiple models
A structured decision-making framework for managing cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in New York State parks
Projected resurgence of COVID-19 in the United States in July—December 2021 resulting from the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant and faltering vaccination
Evaluating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to bats in the context of wildlife research, rehabilitation, and control
Collaborative hubs: Making the most of predictive epidemic modeling
Long-term strategic plan for the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission: Phase 2A final report
Decision-support framework for linking regional-scale management actions to continental-scale conservation of wide-ranging species
Synergistic interventions to control COVID-19: Mass testing and isolation mitigates reliance on distancing
Strategic testing approaches for targeted disease monitoring can be used to inform pandemic decision-making
Navigating the science-policy interface
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 15
Modeling, Estimation, and Adaptive Management of Florida Manatees
The Challenge: Florida manatees are threatened by watercraft-related mortality, the potential loss of warmwater habitat, red tide events, and other anthropogenic factors. The USFWS and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have regulatory authorities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and state statutes to recover manatees. To support...Adaptive Management for Threatened and Endangered Species
The Challenge: Threatened and endangered species have to be managed in the face of uncertainty, but traditionally, there has been reluctance to think about adaptive management of listed species. Management agencies with responsibility for threatened and endangered species need tools to help manage in the face of uncertainty, with the hope of reducing that uncertainty.Structured Decision Making: Methods, Applications, and Capacity-Building
The Challenge: The field of decision analysis is a rich and mature discipline that provides robust methods for helping decision makers understand the nature of their decisions, involve stakeholders and scientists in appropriate steps of the process, and develop transparent records for the public. The use of these structured approaches is emerging in natural resource management, and there is strong... - Data
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Filter Total Items: 153
Structured decision making
No abstract available.AuthorsMichael C. Runge, J. Barry Grand, Michael S. MitchellVote-processing rules for combining control recommendations from multiple models
Mathematical modelling is used during disease outbreaks to compare control interventions. Using multiple models, the best method to combine model recommendations is unclear. Existing methods weight model projections, then rank control interventions using the combined projections, presuming model outputs are directly comparable. However, the way each model represents the epidemiological system willAuthorsWilliam J.M. Probert, Sam Nicol, Matthew J. Ferrari, Shou-Li Li, Katriona Shea, Michael J. Tildesley, Michael C. RungeVote-processing rules for combining control recommendations from multiple models
Mathematical modelling is used during disease outbreaks to compare control interventions. Using multiple models, the best method to combine model recommendations is unclear. Existing methods weight model projections, then rank control interventions using the combined projections, presuming model outputs are directly comparable. However, the way each model represents the epidemiological system willAuthorsWilliam JM Probert, Sam Nicol, Matthew J. Ferrari, Shou-Li Li, Katriona Shea, Michael J. Tildesley, Michael C. RungeA structured decision-making framework for managing cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in New York State parks
Cyanobacteria are increasingly a global water-quality concern because of the potential for these organisms to develop into potentially harmful blooms that affect ecological, economic, and public health. Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) can lead to a decrease in water quality and affect many of the recreational and ecological benefits of parks that include lakes. The New York State OAuthorsJennifer L. Graham, Gabriella M. Cebada Mora, Rebecca M. Gorney, Lianne C. Ball, Claudia Mengelt, Michael C. RungeProjected resurgence of COVID-19 in the United States in July—December 2021 resulting from the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant and faltering vaccination
In Spring 2021, the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant began to cause increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in parts of the United States. At the time, with slowed vaccination uptake, this novel variant was expected to increase the risk of pandemic resurgence in the US in summer and fall 2021. As part of the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, an ensemble of nine mechanistic modeAuthorsShaun Truelove, Claire P. Smith, Michelle Qin, Luke Mullany, Rebecca K. Borchering, Justin Lessler, Katriona Shea, Emily Howerton, Lucie Contamin, John Levander, J. Kerr, Harry Hochheiser, Matt Kinsey, Kate Tallaksen, Shelby Wilson, Lauren Shin, Kaitlin Rainwater-Lovett, Joseph Lemaitre, Juan Dent, Joshua Kaminsky, Elizabeth C. Lee, Javier Perez-Saez, Alison Hill, Dean Karlen, Matteo Chinazzi, Jessica Davis, Kunpeng Mu, Xinyue Xiong, Ana Pastore y Piontti, Alessandro Vespignani, Ajitesh Srivastava, Przemyslaw Porebski, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Aniruddha Adiga, Bryan Lewis, Brian Klahn, Joseph Outten, M. Orr, G. Harrison, Benjamin Hurt, Jiangzhuo Chen, Anil Vullikanti, Madhav Marathe, Stefan Hoops, Parantapa Bhattacharya, Dustin Machi, Shi Chen, Rajib Paul, Daniel Janies, Jean-Claude Thill, Marta Galanti, Teresa Yamana, Sen Pei, Jeffrey L. Shaman, Jessica Healy, Rachel B. Slayton, Matthew Biggerstaff, Michael A Johansson, Michael C. Runge, Cecile ViboudEvaluating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to bats in the context of wildlife research, rehabilitation, and control
Preventing wildlife disease outbreaks is a priority for natural resource agencies, and management decisions can be urgent, especially in epidemic circumstances. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, wildlife agencies were concerned whether the activities they authorize might increase the risk of viral transmission from humans to North American bats, but had a limited amount of time in which to make deAuthorsJonathan D. Cook, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Jeremy T. H. Coleman, Jonathan M. Sleeman, Michael C. RungeCollaborative hubs: Making the most of predictive epidemic modeling
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that epidemic models play an important role in how governments and the public understand and respond to infectious disease crises. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, models were used first to estimate the true number of infections, then to provide estimates of key parameters, to generate short-term forecasts of outbreak trends, and to quantify the pAuthorsNicholas G. Reich, Justin Lessler, Sebastian Funk, Cecile Viboud, Alessandro Vespignani, Ryan J Tibshirani, Katriona Shea, Melanie Schienle, Michael C. Runge, Roni Rosenfeld, Evan L Ray, Rene Niehus, Helen C Johnson, Michael A Johansson, Harry Hochheiser, Lauren Gardner, Johannes Bracher, Rebecca K. Borchering, Matthew BiggerstaffLong-term strategic plan for the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission: Phase 2A final report
No abstract available.AuthorsDiana Di Leonardo, Alyssa Dausman, Ryan Clark, Michael C. Runge, Soupy Dalyander, Scott Hemmerling, Audrey Grismore, Jason Afinowicz, Philip Taucer, Jordan Skipwith, Frank T.-C. TsaiDecision-support framework for linking regional-scale management actions to continental-scale conservation of wide-ranging species
Anas acuta (Northern pintail; hereafter pintail) was selected as a model species on which to base a decision-support framework linking regional actions to continental-scale population and harvest objectives. This framework was then used to engage stakeholders, such as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives’ (LCCs’) habitat management partners within areas of importance to pintails, while maximizing cAuthorsErik E. Osnas, G. Scott Boomer, James H. Devries, Michael C. RungeSynergistic interventions to control COVID-19: Mass testing and isolation mitigates reliance on distancing
Stay-at-home orders and shutdowns of non-essential businesses are powerful, but socially costly, tools to control the pandemic spread of SARS-CoV-2. Mass testing strategies, which rely on widely administered frequent and rapid diagnostics to identify and isolate infected individuals, could be a potentially less disruptive management strategy, particularly where vaccine access is limited. In this pAuthorsEmily Howerton, Matthew J. Ferrari, Ottar N Bjornstad, Tiffany L. Bogich, Rebecca K. Borchering, Chris P. Jewell, James D. Nichols, William J M Probert, Michael C. Runge, Michael J. Tildesley, Cecile Viboud, Katriona SheaStrategic testing approaches for targeted disease monitoring can be used to inform pandemic decision-making
More than 1.6 million Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests were administered daily in the United States at the peak of the epidemic, with a significant focus on individual treatment. Here, we show that objective-driven, strategic sampling designs and analyses can maximize information gain at the population level, which is necessary to increase situational awareness anAuthorsJames D. Nichols, Tiffany L. Bogich, Emily Howerton, Ottar N. Bjørnstad, Rebecca K. Borchering, Matthew J. Ferrari, Murali Haran, Christopher P. Jewell, Kim M. Pepin, William J. M. Probert, Juliet R. C. Pulliam, Michael C. Runge, Michael J. Tildesley, Cecile Viboud, Katriona SheaNavigating the science-policy interface
As a wildlife population ecologist who wants to conduct useful science, I find the Endangered Species Act (ESA), like other federal wildlife statutes, an intriguing read. The topic is in my wheelhouse—fish, wildlife, and plants, with a focus at the population and species levels. There is an emphasis on science, in fact, the “best scientific and commercial data available.” And there are intriguinAuthorsMichael C. Runge - Web Tools
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