Susan Elbin is the Director of Conservation and Science for New York City Audubon (NYCA), where her work is focused on urban ecology—conservation of waterbirds and migratory landbirds in New York City. Current focal projects include long-term monitoring of and research on nesting and foraging herons, egrets, ibis, and cormorants in the New York Harbor; monitoring migratory and beach-nesting shorebirds in Jamaica Bay; participating in salt marsh bird surveys. These projects have been designed to employ citizen science volunteers and graduate students as well as program staff. Her projects have avian behavioural ecology as their core, leading to conservation action. For example, she is co-author of the Harbor Herons Conservation Plan (2010).
Susan has worked in the field of conservation, within the US and internationally, for more than 30 years. She holds an MS degree in Ecology (Pennsylvania State University) and a PhD in Ecology and Evolution (Rutgers University). She serves on several graduate committees and is an adjunct professor at Pace University and Columbia University, where she teaches courses in ornithology and migration ecology. Susan served a term as Secretary for the Waterbird Society, has been on the Council, and is the immediate Past President.