Presented by President Linda Feltner

Kalliopi (Kapi) Monoyios has done a surprising amount of diverse work, over the last decade at least, for GNSI. We wish to honor her this year with a Special Service Award for all she has done for us (thus far). 

Kapi’s most recent efforts began in 2015 with a letter-writing campaign to the GNSI Board, suggesting that GNSI would benefit from cultivating a more comprehensive and contemporary online presence. This resulted in the Board creating a new position, Social Media Coordinator, which Kapi held 2015-2017. 

She took over our Facebook page and watched as we grew our followers by over 500 people a year. That page is currently followed by over 2800 people, quite a feat considering our paying membership numbers. Our Facebook audience is critical since they have opted into our broadcasts indicating an interest in what we do. Kapi hopes “it will serve as a platform to disseminate our coolness and ultimately as a source for converting followers into supporting members moving forward.”

She also created the GNSI Twitter account that rapidly gathered followers. It currently stands at over 1440 followers after 3 years of use. Her hope for the Twitter account is that we gain access to the highly active & academic-minded community she experiences on the platform, fostering beneficial collaborations and good relations between the Guild and supporting professions that make what we do possible.

Our Outreach Director has overseen all of this and has continued to grow these efforts started by Kapi. Jenn Deutscher is currently our Social Media Coordinator. 

Kapi has served on the Education Committee longer than anyone, since Cassio Lymn was Education Director in the aughts. Committee members review grant proposals that come to the Education Committee from chapters and members.

Kapi was one of our social media mavens at the 2017 Asheville conference. She also worked on the 2014 Boulder Conference team and was auction coordinator and mini-workshop leader. She presented at the 2010 Raleigh conference, constructed the 2009 Fort Kent website, organized digital workshops and presentations for the Bozeman conference in 2007, creating the conference logo and presenting at the conference. Kapi coordinated the auction in 2006 and attended her first conference in 2003, in Denver. 

Kapi came to GNSI with a degree in Geology (Princeton University) while she held a long-running job as a lab tech-turned-illustrator for Neil Shubin’s lab at the University of Chicago. She illustrated his book Your Inner Fish during this time. She co-founded Symbiartic, Scientific American's original blog on the intersection of science and art, with fine artist Glendon Mellow and science cartoonist Katie McKissick. Kapi is currently pursuing fine art based on her deep fascination with the natural world and our connection to it.