Abstract

Stephen W. Pacala is the Director of the Princeton Environmental Institute and The Frederick D. Petrie Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. He also co-directs the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, an effort to develop solutions to the greenhouse warming problem, and is a founder and Chairman of the Board of Climate Central, a nonprofit media organization focusing on climate change. Professor Pacala has researched a wide variety of ecological and mathematical topics. At Princeton, his work focuses on problems of global change with an emphasis on interactions among the biosphere, greenhouse gases and climate. He also researches solutions to the climate problem, the dynamics of forests, and the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Professor Pacala completed an undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University. His honors include the David Starr Jordan Prize, the George Mercer and Robert MacArthur Awards of the Ecological Society of America, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.