{"id":5500,"date":"2016-07-24T18:55:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T01:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/?p=5500"},"modified":"2016-07-24T18:55:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T01:55:58","slug":"schlesinger-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/history\/2016\/07\/schlesinger-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Schlesinger"},"content":{"rendered":"

From an \u201cEcologist Directory\u201d maintained by the ESA Education Office about 2004-2005. Profile circa 2004.<\/em>
\nDegree<\/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 Ph.D.
\nPosition<\/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 James B. Duke Professor
\nDepartment<\/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 Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
\nOrganization<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Duke University
\n\"bill_sch\"
\nWhen did you get interested in ecology? Who was most influential in guiding you into ecology?<\/strong>
\nI would trace my interest in ecology back to a summer field course that I took as a junior high school student at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It was taught by Russell Hansen , who also stimulated Stan Temple and several others in field ecology. When I got to Dartmouth, Bill Reiners crystallized my interest in ecology as a science and as a potential career\u2013steering me away from our family tradition in medicine. (Years later, my father finally agreed that this was wise). At Cornell, Peter Marks made sure that I did not forget the natural world as I pursued biogeochemistry. George Woodwell has always been another role model, and it was he who urged me to perform my first synthesis on the pool of carbon held in soil organic matter as a component of the global carbon cycle. Peter Vitousek, located down the road at UNC, and I had a great and stimulating relationship during my first three years at Duke (1980-83), due to our shared interest in biogeochemistry.
\nWhat is your position title now?<\/strong>
\nMy position now is James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry and Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University.
\nDescribe 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>
\nI took a very traditional route: BA in Biology at Dartmouth; no time off; then Ph.D. in Ecology and Systematics at Cornell. I jumped right into my first job as an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at UC Santa Barbara. UCSB was great and I have maintained an important friendship with Bruce Mahall, the best natural historian I know, through occasional field trips to the Mojave Desert. After 4 years at UCSB, I moved to Duke as an Assistant Professor, moving up through the ranks to my current titles. As early as Dartmouth, I was also interested in the geosciences, especially hydrology and geomorphology. That training has been invaluable in my career as a biogeochemist. My most important accomplishment was writing my own textbook \u2013 Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change (2nd. ed. Academic Press, 1997). However, if I were to do it again, I\u2019d get better skills with technology.
\nWhat key advice would you offer a student today?<\/strong><\/p>\n