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Scientific Staff

Ecology is the scientific study of the processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and the interactions between organisms and the transformation and flux of energy and matter.

This brief definition describes the focus of virtually all the research done at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Defying the modern trend toward increasingly narrow specialization in scientific disciplines, the Institute attracts individuals with a broad perspective, those who keep one eye on the larger landscape even as they seek to understand specific processes. The Institute's assemblage of trained ecologists - there are more than two dozen Ph.D.-level scientists on staff at any given time - creates a culture of inquiry through active collaboration that unravels the extraordinary complexity of ecosystem processes more readily and comprehensively than individual efforts.

The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, with fine laboratory, library and residential facilities, welcomes scientists on university sabbaticals as well as post-doctoral trainees who are starting their careers. There are up to fifty master's and doctoral degree students in the Institute's program at any given time, and each summer the staff list swells with an influx of undergraduate students doing independent research.

Alan R. Berkowitz
Head of Education
Plant Ecologist
Ph.D., 1986, Cornell University
Charles D. Canham
Forest Ecologist
Ph.D., 1984, Cornell University
Nina M. Caraco
Biogeochemist
Ph.D., 1986, Boston University
Jonathan J. Cole
Aquatic Microbiologist
Ph.D., 1982, Cornell University
Stuart E.G. Findlay
Aquatic Ecologist
Ph.D., 1981, University of Georgia
Peter M. Groffman
Microbial Ecologist
Ph.D., 1984, University of Georgia
Clive G. Jones
Ecologist
D.Phil., 1978, University of York, United Kingdom
Gene E. Likens
Ecologist
Ph.D., 1962, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Gary M. Lovett
Ecosystem Ecologist
Ph.D., 1981, Dartmouth College
Richard S. Ostfeld
Animal Ecologist
Ph.D., 1985, University of California, Berkeley
Steward T. A. Pickett
Plant Ecologist
Ph.D., 1977, University of Illinois, Urbana
William H. Schlesinger
President
Biogeochemist
Ph.D., 1976, Cornell University
David L. Strayer
Aquatic Ecologist
Ph.D., 1984, Cornell University
Kathleen C. Weathers
Ecologist
Ph.D., 1993, Rutgers University
Raymond J. Winchcombe
Manager of Field Research Facilities
Wildlife Biologist
B.S., 1988, S.U.N.Y. Empire State College, at New Paltz

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