The award is named for the late Sam Robbins of Madison, a minister by profession, who served as president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and editor of "The Passenger Pigeon." He was author of the book, "Wisconsin Birdlife, Population and Distribution, Past and Present."

Howe, who joined the faculty in 1984, is director of the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity at UW-Green Bay. He has an international reputation in the study of animal population dynamics, especially forest birds. Howe was co-investigator on a recent three-year, $6-million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and test environmental indicators for coastal and near-shore regions of the U.S. Great Lakes.