The Log | School News

Biologist James S. Clark Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

James S. Clark, H.L. Blomquist Professor of Biology at the Nicholas School, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Clark, an expert on how global changes affects forests and grasslands, was one of 196 scientists, scholars, artists, statesmen and entrepreneurs elected as Fellows this year.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts interdisciplinary studies on science and international security, social policy, education and the humanities. Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, it has elected as Fellows “the finest minds and most influential leaders of each succeeding generation.” Last year, Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School, was elected a Fellow.

Clark is widely cited for his research on biodiversity, global change ecology, global climate change, earth surface processes and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent studies of his refute the widely held theory that trees can “relocate” quickly in response to sudden climate change (see related story here >). Other recent studies of his have suggested that droughts like the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s may have occurred more frequently and lasted longer in prehistoric times.

Clark has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and is the recipient of numerous research awards, including the Ecological Society of America’s William Skinner Cooper Award in 1988 and its George Mercer Award in 1991.