BIOGRAPHIES OF THE BERAC MEMBERSHIP
Dennis D. Baldocchi is a professor of Biometeorology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on physical, biological, and chemical processes that control trace gas and energy exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere and the micrometeorology of plant canopies. Professor Baldocchi received his Ph.D. (1982) in bioenvironmental engineering from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, his M.S. (1979) in agricultural engineering from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and his B.S. (1977) in atmospheric science from the University of California, Davis. He has received numerous awards, including the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biometeorology from the American Meteorological Society in 2009, is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2007, and has received awards from the University of California, including the Faculty Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring in 2011. Professor Baldocchi is an editor of numerous journals, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research, and is a member of advisory boards for national and international organizations and projects. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications.
Janet Braam is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University. Her genetic, biochemical and cell biological research focuses on how plants sense dynamic features of their environment, including daily rhythms, temperature and light changes, mechanical forces, fungal pathogens, and insect herbivores. Professor Braam received her Ph.D. (1985) in molecular biology and virology from Sloan-Kettering Division of Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and her B.S. (1980) in zoology from Southern Illinois University. She has received numerous honors and awards, including the Rice University Women's Resource Center IMPACT Award (2006), the Medical Innovations Award from the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering and an L. E. Simmons Collaborative Research Award (2011) and the Rice Faculty Initiatives Award in 2012. She has over 50 publications.
Judith A. Curry is the Chair and Professor of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology and President of the Climate Forest Applications Network (CFAN) LLC. Her research focuses on hurricanes, remote sensing, atmospheric modeling, polar climates, air-sea interactions and use of unmanned aerial vehicles for atmospheric research. Dr. Curry received her Ph.D. (1982) in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago and her B.S (1974) in geography from Northern Illinois University. She is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (1994), a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2004), and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2007). She is a member of advisory committees for numerous organizations and research projects.
James R. Ehleringer is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and Director of the Global Change and Sustainability Center at the University of Utah. His research focuses on global change impacts on vegetation and ecosystem processes; plant ecology of forest and desert ecosystems; urban ecology; and applications of stable isotopes to address environmental, forensic, and ecosystem processes. Professor Ehleringer received his Ph.D. (1977) from Stanford University and his M.S. (1973) and B.S. (1972) from San Diego State University. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2008) and the American Association for Advancement of Science (1999). He has been recognized for his research with the Distinguished Research Award from the University of Utah (1988) and the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the state of Utah (1999). He has more than 440 publications.
Susan Hubbard is a Senior Scientist, Deputy Director for Programs (Earth Sciences Division), and Environmental Remediation and Water Resources Program Head at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research is focused on stochastic methodologies for estimation of shallow subsurface hydrogeological and biogeochemical processes; water resources and environmental remediation systems-level investigations; and precision agriculture. Dr. Hubbard received her Ph.D. (1998) in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, her M.S. in geophysics from Virginia Tech University, and her B.S. in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has many awards and honors, including the Geological Society of America Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer (2009-2010) and the Frank Frischknecht Near Surface Geophysical Leadership Award (2009). Dr. Hubbard is a technical advisor and editor of numerous organizations and journals including Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrology and Co-editor of the Vadose Zone Journal.
Andrzej Joachimiak is the Director and a Senior Biophysicist of the Structural Biology Center at Argonne National Laboratory, an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Northwestern University at Evanston, and a professor at the University of Chicago. His research is focused on protein structure and finding better ways to determine protein structures using new techniques. Dr. Joachimiak received his Ph.D. (1979) in chemistry and his M.S. (1974) in chemistry from the University of A. Mickiewicz, Poznan, Poland. He also received his D.Sc. (1991) in molecular biology from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. He is the Principle Investigator for the Midwest Center for Structural Genomics, a Senior Fellow of the Computation Institute University of Chicago, Argonne, a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, an Argonne Distinguished Fellow, and is a Co-investigator for the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases. He is the recipient for numerous awards, including the Inventor Award from the Argonne National Laboratory (2008), the Arthur H. Compton Award, Advanced Photon Source (2007), and the Argonne National Laboratory Pacesetter Award (1996). He is a member of many panels and committees.
L. Ruby Leung is a Laboratory Fellow of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and an Affiliate Scientist of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research has focused on the modeling of regional and global climate, and understanding variability and changes as well as the role of land-atmosphere interactions and aerosols in the water cycle. Dr. Leung received her Ph.D. (1991) in atmospheric science and her M.S. (1988) in atmospheric science at Texas A&M University. She received her B.S. (1984) in physics and statistics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. She is an editor for the Journal of Hydrometeorology and has been a member of advisory committees for many organizations and research programs. She has over 100 publications.
Gerald Mace is a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. His research focuses on the role of the hydrological cycle in the Earth’s climate system as well as active and passive remote sensing of clouds and aerosols. Dr. Mace received his Ph.D. (1994) from Pennsylvania State University and his B.S. (1989) from Ohio University. He has served on editorial boards, university committees and advisory boards for the Department of Energy.
Sabeeha Merchant is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Associate Director of the Cell and Molecular Biology Training Program and Assistant Director of the UCLA-DOE Institute of Genomics and Proteomics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on trace metal metabolism in Chlamydomonas and the possible use of Chlamydomonas as a model for biodiesel production. Dr. Merchant received her Ph.D. (1983) and B.S. (1979) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2012), recipient of the Botanical Society of America Darbaker Prize (2012), a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologist (2008) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005). She has more than 120 publications.
Joyce E. Penner is the Ralph J. Cicerone Distinguished University Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Michigan and Associate Chair for the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences. Her research focuses on cloud and aerosol interactions and aerosol microphysics, climate and climate change, and interactions of atmospheric chemistry with climate. Professor Penner received her Ph.D. (1977) and M.S. (1972) in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University and her B.S (1970) in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has received numerous awards for her work, including, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (2007) for her role in writing the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, a Research Excellence Award from the University of Michigan College of Engineering (2003), and the title of Aksel Wiin-Nielson Collegiate Professor of Atmospheric Science (2005). She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Penner is actively engaged on many advisory committees and panels. She has over 190 publications.
David A. Randall is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. His research is focused on cloud-climate studies, climate dynamics, cloud parameterization, and numerical methods. Dr. Randall received his Ph.D. (1976) from the University of California, Los Angeles and his B.S. and M.S. (1971) from Ohio State University. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2002), the American Association for Advancement of Science (2001), and the American Meteorological Society (1982). He was Chief Editor of the Journal of Climate for 10 years and is currently Editor of the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. He has received numerous awards including the Meisinger Award of the American Meteorological Society (1994), NASA’s Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1988), the Scholarship Impact Award from the Colorado State University (2005), and NASA’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service (2006). He has over 190 refereed publications, and has published a book on the role of the atmosphere in climate change.
James T. Randerson is a Professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on carbon cycle including climate-carbon cycle feedback, land cover change, remote sensing, deforestation, global change in arctic and boreal ecosystems and terrestrial ecosystem climate policy. Dr. Randerson received his Ph.D. (1998) and his B.S. (1992) from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2005) and received the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2005) for “significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding young scientist.” He has over 100 publications.
Karin A. Remington is the Chief Technology Officer at Arjuna Solutions. She was previously (2007-2012) the Director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests focuses on integration of biology with computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and physics, and increasing the usability of “big data” in science and society. Dr. Remington received her Ph.D. (1991) in mathematics from the University of Kentucky, Lexington and her B.A. (1985) in natural science and mathematics from the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in St. Joseph, Minnesota. She is recipient of the Householder Fellowship in Scientific Computing, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1992-1994), Wimberly Royster Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Kentucky (1987), and a member of Delta Epsilon Sigma and Pi Mu Epsilon.
Phillip G. Robertson is a Professor of ecosystem science at Michigan State University. His research focuses on biogeochemistry, soil biology, and agricultural ecosystem dynamics; in particular greenhouse gas fluxes, nitrogen availability, and nutrient conservation in intensive agriculture and working landscapes. Dr. Robertson received his Ph.D. (1980) in ecology and evolutionary biology at Indiana University and his B.A. (1976) from Hampshire College at Amherst, Massachusetts. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (2003) and the recipient of the MSU Distinguished Faculty Award (2005). He is a member of many groups and committees, serves as Chair of the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network’s Science Council and Executive Board and is a program leader for sustainability research at the Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.
William H. Schlesinger is the President of Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, a private ecological research institute in Millbrook, New York. His research interests include environmental chemistry and global change, including the role of soils and human impacts on forests and soils in global climate change. Dr. Schlesinger received his Ph.D. (1976) from Cornell University and his A.B. (1972) from Dartmouth College. He is member of the National Academy of Sciences (2003), a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, the Soil Science Society of America and is a former President of the Ecological Society of America (2003-2004). He has more than 200 publications.
Martha A. Schlicher is the Bioenergy Technology lead at Monsanto Company. Her research focuses on the development of new technologies that improve the environmental and economic viability and sustainability of renewable energy to improve its contribution to our energy independence and to rural economic growth. Dr. Schlicher received her MBA (1998) from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, her Ph.D. (1988) in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois, and her B.S. (1982) in chemistry from Indiana University. She is the recipient of many awards including the Monsanto Technical Excellence Award, the YMCA Women in Leadership Award, and the Illinois Corn Grower Innovation Award. She is a part of many societies and committees, including as a member of the Board of Trustees for the St. Louis Academy of Sciences and a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis.
Jacqueline V. Shanks is the Manley Hoppe Professor and Microbial Metabolic Engineering Trust Leader at Iowa State University. Her research is focused on biochemical engineering, plant metabolic engineering, and metabolic engineering for biorenewable chemicals and fuels. Dr. Shanks received her Ph.D. (1989) in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and her B.S (1983) in chemical engineering from Iowa State University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and is the recipient of many awards, including the Area 15c Plenary Award from the AlChE (the world's leading organization for chemical engineering professionals) Food’s Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division (2010), the Research Innovation and Leadership Award from the Technology Association of Iowa (2008), the Van Lanen Award from the American Chemical Society Division of Biotechnology (2004).
Gaius (Gus) R. Shaver is a Senior scientist at the Ecosystem Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole and a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University. His research is focused on plant growth and nutrition and the role of plants in ecosystem element cycles. Dr. Shaver received his Ph.D. (1976) in botany from Duke University and his M.A. and B.S (both in 1972) in biological sciences from Stanford University. He has been named as a “Highly Cited” author in Ecology/Environment by the Institute for Scientific Information and was, for 10 years, one of the top 250 preeminent individual researchers in each of 21 subject categories who have demonstrated great influence in their field as measured by citations to their work. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Polar Research Board, a member of the Steering Committee of the International Study of Arctic Change, and has been a board member or advisor to numerous scientific societies, journals, universities, and research agencies. He has authored or coauthored over 150 research publications.
Herman H. (Hank) Shugart is the W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Regional Environmental Studies at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on simulation modeling of forest ecosystems, for which he developed and tested models of biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and secondary succession. Dr. Shugart received his Ph.D. (1971) in zoology from the University of Georgia, Athens and his B.S. and M.S. (1966 and 1968 respectively), both in zoology, from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He is a Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation (2004) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1983) and is the recipient of many awards, including the Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award (2009) from the United States Chapter of the International Association of Landscape Ecologists and the 2009 Excellence in Faculty Mentoring Award from the University of Virginia. He is actively engaged as an editor and member for journals, societies and committees.
Gary Stacey is the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council Endowed Professor of Soybean Biotechnology, Professor of Plant Sciences, Joint Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri, the Director for the Center for Sustainable Energy, and the Associate Director for the National Center for Soybean Biotechnology. Dr. Stacey is the Chair of the BERAC. His research focuses on the use of structural and functional genomic methods to understand the way in which legumes respond to microbial infection. He received his Ph.D. (1978) in microbiology/botany from the University of Texas and his B.S. (1974) in biology/chemistry from Bowling Green State University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creative Achievement from the University of Tennessee (1992), the Distinguished Researcher Award from the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, University of Missouri (2007).
David A. Stahl is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology at the University of Washington. His research focuses on microbially catalyzed sulfur and nitrogen cycling, bioremediation, the structure and activity of biofilms and microbial evolution and systematics, including comparative sequencing and physiology. Dr. Stahl received his Ph.D. (1978) in microbiology and his M.S. (1975) in microbiology from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his B.S. (1971) in microbiology from the University of Washington. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2012), a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (1996) and a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology (2001-2007). He has more than 230 publications.
Judy D. Wall is a professor of Biochemistry and a Joint Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on the metabolism of toxic metals by bacteria that may contribute to the bioremediation of contaminated soils and groundwater. Dr. Wall received her Ph.D. (1973) in biochemistry from Duke University and her B.S (1967) in chemistry with a minor in education from the University of North Carolina. She is a Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology. She has served on editorial boards and advisory committees for numerous journals and scientific societies. She is the recipient of a Distinguished Research Award (2002) and the Byler Distinguished Teaching Award (1998) from the University of Missouri.
Warren M. Washington is a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. His research focuses on numerical modeling of climate. He was one of the first developers in creating new and revolutionary atmospheric computer models in the 1960s. Dr. Washington received his Ph.D. (1964) in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University, his M.S. (1960) in meteorology from Oregon State University, and his B.S (1958) in physics from Oregon State University. He is a recipient of the National Medal of Science, a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a former member and chair of the National Science Board. He has been an advisor to five presidents.
Minghua Zhang is the Dean and Professor of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University and the Director of the Marine Sciences Research Center. His research focuses on climate modeling and climate change; the development of physical parameterizations of clouds, atmospheric convection, and radiation in General Circulation Models; and the integration and synthesis of major field experimental data. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. (1987) in atmospheric sciences from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his M.S. and B.S. (1984 and 1982, respectively) in atmospheric sciences from Nanjing Institute of Meteorology. He was a recipient of the Faculty Career Award of the National Science Foundation. He is the Co-Chairman of the Atmospheric Model Working Group of the Community Earth System Model. He had previously served as the Co-Chairman of the Cloud Parameterization and Modeling Working Group of the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. He has more than 100 publications.
Huimin Zhao is the Centennial Endowed Chair Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Professor of chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UICC). His primary research interests focus on the development and applications of synthetic biology tools to address society’s most daunting challenges in human health and energy, and the fundamental studies of enzyme catalysis, gene regulation, and cell metabolism. Dr. Zhao received his Ph.D. (1998) in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and his B.S. (1992) in biology from the University of Science and Technology of China. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2008), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009), and Guggenheim Foundation (2012). He has received numerous awards such as the American Chemical Society Division of Biochemical Technology Young Investigator Award (2008), DuPont Young Professor Award (2005), and National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2004). He has served on the editorial board for several journals and the scientific advisory board for two biotechnology start-ups. He has over 130 publications and approximately 20 patents.