RENSSELAERVILLE — The Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve, in western Albany County, has been conducting ecological studies at its field station for 80 years — since 1939 — and is part of an international network of biological field stations that are outdoor laboratories where scientists can conduct research to advance understanding of the environment and the natural world.

On Nov. 2, the Huyck Preserve’s research and student alumni, as well as community members, are invited to celebrate eight decades of research accomplishment and professional development in biology in the form of a daylong conference with accompanying events at the nearby Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville.

The 80th anniversary celebration includes a mid-day keynote address “Looking Ahead to 2099: Welcoming the Future,” by Kim Knowlton, Dr.P.H., a senior scientist and deputy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Science Center, and an assistant professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

As an environmental health scientist specializing in the public-health impacts of climate change, she has been helping communities adapt to our changed climate and understand the connection between climate and health.

Sue Beatty, Ph.D., will lead a morning panel discussion called, “What the Frogs Saw: Connecting our Ecological Past, Present and Future,” which focuses on discoveries made by Huyck Preserve researchers; the role the preserve and other field stations have played in advancing careers; the importance of long-term ecological research; and why it’s essential to communicate scientific findings to the public and policy makers.

Beatty, who has studied forest understory dynamics at the preserve for more than 40 years, is a past member of the preserve’s board of directors as well as the 2019 Summer Research Fellow, and a professor emerita of biology and former dean at the Sage Colleges, and an emerita professor of geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Panelists will include:

— The preserve’s former assistant director, Tom Alworth, M.A., who is now the deputy commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation;

— Meghan Barrett, a Ph.D. candidate and teaching assistant at Drexel University, who is conducting research on bees and solitary wasps at the Preserve;

— Ohio State University Dean and Professor Emerita Joan Herbers, Ph.D., who spent her academic career studying the inner workings of ant colonies all over the world including the Huyck Preserve; and

— Owen Sholes, Ph.D., who has studied old-field communities, forest succession, and tree-ring analysis of disturbance events at the Huyck Preserve and elsewhere, and is a retired professor of biology at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The panel also includes two members of the Preserve’s Scientific Advisory Committee:

— Longtime Preserve researcher and former board member George Robinson, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of biological sciences at the State University of New York at Albany; and

— Kerry Woods, Ph.D., a professor of natural sciences at Bennington College in Vermont and the director of research at the Ives Lake Field Station in Big Bay, Michigan.

Other activities on Nov. 2 include breakout sessions, posters, oral history interviews, tours of the preserve facilities, and more.

To help commemorate the accomplishments of the field station, the Huyck Preserve is the recipient of a grant from Sappi North America Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper and packaging products as part of its annual “Ideas that Matter” grant program.

The award in the amount of $44,569 pays for production of a series of public outreach tools — including a published guide of the accomplishments and research culture at the field station along with an accompanying digital version on the Huyck Preserve’s website, an exhibit at the preserve’s visitors’ center, as well as a commemorative poster and a tote bag. The items will be executed by Ann Sappenfield, a New York City-based designer and the principal of Fluora Studios, under the coordination of a Huyck Preserve Board member.

For the full agenda and to register for the event, go to https://www.huyckpreserve.org/research-celebration.html or call 518-797-3440. The celebration begins at 8:30 a.m., includes lunch, and ends at 4:30 p.m.