{"id":5151,"date":"2016-07-09T15:01:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T22:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/?p=5151"},"modified":"2016-07-09T15:01:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T22:01:01","slug":"mcnaughton-sam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/2016\/07\/mcnaughton-sam\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam McNaughton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>From an \u201cEcologist Directory\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2004-2005. Profile circa 2004.<\/em><br>\n<strong>Degree<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ph.D. 1964 (University of Texas)<br>\n<strong>Position<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Professor of Science<br>\n<strong>Department<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Science (William Rand Kenan Jr.)<br>\n<strong>Organization<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Syracuse University<br>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5139 img-fluid\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/mcNaughton.gif\" alt=\"mcNaughton\" width=\"181\" height=\"210\">Dr. McNaughton is the recipient of <strong>ESA\u2019s 2004 Eminent Ecologist Award<\/strong>. This award is given to a senior ecologist in recognition of an outstanding body of ecological work or of sustained ecological contributions of extraordinary merit. Nominees may be from any country and need not be ESA members. Recipients receive lifetime, active membership in the Society.<br>\n<strong>When did you become interested in ecology?\u00a0 How did you learn about ecological careers?<br>\n<\/strong>As a kid I always fished, trapped, and hunted, where I observed nature on a continuing basis, even if I was just roaming around and seeing what was there without any specific objective. When I was in college at NW Missouri State, Dr. Irene Mueller offered an ecology course which I took and it taught me the meaning of what I was seeing. In addition, she required that we read scientific papers and give oral reports on them to the class. Well, that was it! I had to be an ecologist!<br>\n<strong>Describe your route to a career in (or using) ecology. What challenges did you need to overcome? What was your training, and what positions have you held?<\/strong><br>\nI received my Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in 1964. For the next year, I had a job as an assistant professor at Portland State College after which I did postdoctoral work at Stanford University. I have been at Syracuse University since 1966, where I am currently the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Science. My research includes ecosystem and plant ecology, grassland ecosystems, ecology of large mammalian herbivores, and conservation biology. We are particularly interested in ecosystems where large mammals are significant members of the food web, and how those mammals interact with energy flow and nutrient cycling. The focus of field studies is Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, east Africa, a grazing ecosystem with Earth\u2019s largest concentration of such mammals. Previous localities of research have included Yellowstone National Park in the USA, the Galapagos Islands \u2013 where the grazing giant tortoises were studied, and southern Kenya.<br>\n<strong>What key advice would you offer a student today?<\/strong><br>\nDo science that interests you, but don\u2019t beat your head against unsolvable problems<br>\n<strong>What advice do you have for communicating ecology to diverse audiences?<\/strong><br>\nIf you can\u2019t explain it to your parents and a general audience, you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From an \u201cEcologist Directory\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2004-2005. Profile circa 2004. Degree\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ph.D. 1964 (University of Texas) Position\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Professor of Science Department\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Science (William Rand Kenan Jr.) Organization\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Syracuse University Dr. McNaughton is the recipient of ESA\u2019s 2004 Eminent Ecologist Award. This award is given to a senior ecologist in recognition of an outstanding body of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,155,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographies","category-ecologist-directory","category-personal-accounts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}