2007 Norman N. Durham Lecture Series

Jim MacMahon is Trustee Professor of Biology, and Director of the Ecology Center at Utah State University. He has a B.S. degree in Zoology from Michigan State University (1960) and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Notre Dame (1964). He received the Governor’s Medal for Excellence in Science & Technology in 1987, the D. Wynne Thorne Research Award in 1988 and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Jim is the Past President of the Ecological Society of America and currently serves on the editorial advisory board of Restoration Ecology and served for six years as a member of the National Research Council's Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology where he chaired the section on environments and populations. His research interests center on the organization of natural communities including current research on the potential use of ecological theory as a basis for management strategies to be used in disturbed areas (especially surface mines). In addition to more than 150 technical and popular articles, he has authored two books, including a field guide to North American deserts. He has received awards for his teaching and research at both universities where he has been employed. Jim previously served as head of the Biology Department, Dean of Science and Vice President for University Advancement at USU. Jim received the Leone Leadership Award, the premier leadership acknowledgment for administrators at Utah State University in 2001. Jim teaches graduate courses in Ecology, Biogeography and Mammalogy and directs graduate students and lectures across the United States and around the world about issues of science, especially ecology. Jim was one of the authors of the proposal to develop the National Ecological Observatory Network and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NEON Inc., an ambitious attempt to monitor the state of the nation’s ecosystems.