Hank Vanderploeg is a Research Ecologist recently retired at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory serving on volunteer status. He was the Ecosystem Dynamics Branch Chief, where he has spent most of his career studying the lower food web, invasive species, and spatial interactions of the food web. He is particularly interested in lab and field experimental work to define important processes such feeding and nutrient cycling that connect different components of the food web to each other. Presently he is advising colleagues and students on experimental design of ongoing lab and field studies and working on manuscripts collaboratively.