The President's Lecture Series: "Climate Change Paradox in the USA: Hope in Dark and Warming Times"

Stephen W. Pacala is the Frederick D. Petrie Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. He co-directs the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, an effort to develop solutions to the greenhouse warming problem. Steve is also on the Board of the Environmental Defense Fund, and is a founder and Chairman of the Board of Climate Central, a nonprofit media organization focusing on climate change. He was director of the Princeton Environmental Institute from 2005-2014. He is currently chairing a National Academy of Sciences committee on Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration.

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 the Presidential Award of the American Society of Naturalists. He is a lifetime Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He holds an honorary membership to the British Ecological Society, and membership to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.