Each year, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) recognizes early-career researchers with awards celebrating excellence in ornithology. This year’s early-career research awardees represent remarkable contributions to the scientific study and conservation of birds. The 2026 recipients will accept their awards and deliver plenary talks at the 2026 AOS annual meeting (AOS 2026) this August in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
The AOS’s James G. Cooper Early Professional Award and the Ned K. Johnson Early Investigator Award recognize outstanding and promising work by researchers early in their careers. Our 2026 James G. Cooper Award winners are Devon DeRaad and Fengyi Guo. This year, the AOS awarded the Ned K. Johnson Award to Olivia M. Smith.
“We are genuinely pleased to be able to recognize the contributions of these ornithologists to the understanding of bird biology,” AOS President Sara Morris says. “Drs. DeRaad, Guo, and Smith are advancing our ability to address complex questions by combining a variety of traditional and modern scientific techniques to answer questions about birds’ ecology and evolution, and thus conservation. Their plenary talks will greatly enhance our 2026 conference in Amherst and I look forward to hearing how their work is advancing our knowledge of birds and bird biology.”
“Congratulations to Drs. DeRaad, Guo, and Smith on their very impressive and meaningful work!” AOS Executive Director and CEO Judith Scarl says. “Right now, conservation is increasingly critical, and our natural resources face expanding pressures. The work of these three incredible scientists to understand full annual cycle conservation, align human needs with bird habitat needs, and understand extinction are critical pieces of the bird conservation puzzle and can help to inform solutions for how to protect birds and their habitats. The AOS is proud to celebrate their research and conservation efforts!”
James G. Cooper Early Professional Award
Devon DeRaad, Ph.D., La Kretz Center for Conservation Science Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
Devon DeRaad, Ph.D., is a La Kretz Center for Conservation Science Postdoctoral Fellow, mentored by Stepfanie Aguillon, Ph.D., at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a researcher, DeRaad combines genomics with specimen and field-based investigations to increase our collective understanding of how novel biodiversity is generated. DeRaad has published a myriad of scientific papers investigating the speciation process in avian systems across the globe, from the Solomon Islands to the North American Great Plains, and takes pride in doing collaborative, rigorous, and reproducible science. He earned his B.A. from Occidental College in 2017, where he credits undergraduate research experience at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology for the opportunity to fall in love with museum ornithology and the process of scientific research. He then went on to complete his Ph.D. in 2024, mentored by Rob Moyle, Ph.D., while working in the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. As a graduate student, DeRaad received a University of Kansas Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship, funding the majority of his graduate studies. DeRaad was previously awarded an AOS Student Research Award in 2021, and AOS Travel Grants in 2017, 2023, and 2025 to support his attendance at past AOS meetings. DeRaad will deliver a plenary address titled “Understanding the evolutionary forces governing global biodiversity accumulation” at the AOS 2026 meeting in Amherst, Mass., in August.
Fengyi Guo, Ph.D., Rose Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability, Cornell University
Fengyi Guo (Freda), Ph.D., is a Rose Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability. She is a conservation biologist committed to solutions-oriented research. Combining data-intensive radar remote sensing and on-the-ground field surveys, her research focuses on identifying stopover hotspots and key habitats for migratory landbirds during the en-route period, thus contributing to the full annual cycle conservation of migratory birds. Her current work examines the long-term population trends of migratory landbirds during stopover in the contiguous United States, quantifying impacts of past land-use changes and assessing effectiveness of conservation measures. Guo collaborates with USDA–Natural Resources Conservation Service to develop conservation recommendations for protecting and restoring important stopover habitats for migratory landbirds in the eastern United States. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2024; and her M.Phil. in 2018 and B.Sc. in 2016, both from The University of Hong Kong. Her work has been covered by National Public Radio (NPR) and Audubon magazine, and also recognized by an early career award from the International Radar Aeroecology Conference. This is Guo’s first AOS award. Guo will deliver a plenary address titled “Stopover ecology and conservation of migratory landbirds in North America” at the AOS 2026 meeting in Amherst, Mass., in August.
Ned K. Johnson Early Investigator Award
Olivia M. Smith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Olivia M. Smith, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, where she leads the Smith BIRDS Lab. Her research focuses on how working landscapes can be managed to support both people and nature. Taking an ecosystem services perspective, her work examines how birds contribute to ecosystem services such as pest control while addressing potential disservices, particularly food safety risks. Using large-scale observational studies, field experiments, and interdisciplinary approaches, she develops practical, incentive-based conservation strategies for working lands. Smith earned a B.S. from Siena Heights University in 2013, where she was also a McNair Scholar. She then went on to earn her M.S. from The Ohio State University in 2015, and a Ph.D. in biology from Washington State University in 2019. Smith has received competitive fellowships including a USDA Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Michigan State University Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. She has published 40 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, including first-authored manuscripts in PNAS, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Journal of Applied Ecology, and more. She has co-authored articles in leading journals such as Science, Global Change Biology, and One Earth. She also served as an associate editor for the AOS journal Ornithological Applications from 2021–2024. Her research has previously been recognized through honors such as the Frontiers Planet Prize, and she received AOS Travel Grants in 2017, 2018, and 2020. Smith will deliver a plenary address titled “Farming with the flock: Redesigning agricultural systems for people and nature” at the AOS 2026 meeting in Amherst, Mass., in August.