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John Vandermeer

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Curriculum vitae


 

JOHN H. VANDERMEER
Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor,  Michigan 48109
734-764-1446
e-mail  jvander@umich.edu

 

 

Academic and Professional Experience

 

Acting Chair, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Sept 2006 –June 2007

 

Professor of Natural Resources and Environment (Courtesy Appointment) 2003- present.

 

Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 2002 - present.

 

Arthur F. Thurnau Distinguished Professor,  University of Michigan 1994 - present.

 

Faculty Associate,  Program in American Culture,  University of Michigan,  1994 - present.

 

Faculty Associate, Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan, 2001 – present

 

Faculty Associate, Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan, 2000 – present.

 

Faculty Associate,  Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies,  University of Michigan,  1993 - present.

 

Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2004.

 

Fullbright Scholar,  Department of Ecological Agriculture,  Wageningen Agricultural University,  the Netherlands,  1996-1997.

 

Sokal Scholar,  University of Michigan,  1996-1997.

 

Visiting professor,  University of Central America,  Managua,  Nicaragua,  August,  1994

 

Visiting Professor,  Centro de Investigaciónes Ecologicas del Sureste,  Chiapas,  Mexico.  January,  l991.

 

Collegiate Fellow,  University of Michigan,  l989 - 1990.

 

Coordinator for field course,  Agroecología,  Organization for Tropical Studies,  Costa Rica, summers,  l988, 1989.

 

Visiting Professor of Agroecology,  Instituto Superior de Ciencias Agropecuarias (ISCA),  Managua,  Nicaragua,  1986-1987.

 

Fullbright Scholar, Instituto Superior de Ciencias Agropecuarias,  Nicaragua, 1986-1987.

 

Chair,  Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,  University of  Michigan,  1985-1986.

 

Visiting Professor -- Autonomous University of Nicaragua,  March l984.

 

Full Professor of Biology,  University of Michigan,  l981 - present.

 

EVIST Fellow,  Interdisciplinary Incentive Award NSF,  l981.

 

Visiting lecturer ,  Colegio Superior de Agricultura Tropical,   Tabasco,  Mexico, 1978.

 

Associate  Professor  of Biology,  University of Michigan,  1974-1981.

 

Visiting scientist ,  INPA,  Manaus,  Brazil,  l974.

 

Professor in special seminar for professors of Latin American Universities,  Turrialba,  Costa Rica,  1971.

 

Assistant  Professor  of Zoology,  U. of Michigan,  1970-1974.

 

Visiting Scholar,  Princeton University,  1969.

 

Assistant Professor of Biology,  SUNY, Stonybrook, N.Y.,  1969-1970.

 

Coordinator,  full-time faculty, visiting scientist,  various courses,  Organization for Tropical Studies,  l969-1999.

 

Post Doctoral Fellow:  Sloan Foundation,  University of Chicago, l969.

 

 

Grants and Awards

 

Rackham Faculty Research Grant (Laboratory Studies of the ecology of Paramecium ) $5000,  1972-1973.

 

Rackham Faculty Research Grant (Demographic sutdies of Welfia georgii  and Socratea durrissima  in Costa Rica) $5000,  l974.

 

National Science Foundation (Ecology)  Demography of Welfia georgii  in Costa Rica)  $50,000,  l975-1977.

 

National Science Foundation (International Program)  (Overyielding in a traditional corn-bean-squash system in southern Mexico)  $45,000, 1979-1981.

 

Ethics and Values in Science (NSF),  Interdisciplinary Incentive Award (Social consequences of Agricultural Mechanization ) $20,000,  1981-1982.

 

National Science Foundation (Ecosystems) (Ecology of yield advantage in two intercrop ecosystems) $109,000,  1982-1984.

 

National Science Foundation (International Program)  (Plant competition theory and intercropping),  $16,000,  1983-1985.

 

Fullbright Award (Intercropping Studies),  $25,000,  1986-1987.

 

Research Partnership grant (University of Michigan) (with K. Nelson) $ 21,000,  1989-1990.

 

Office of Vice President for Research University of Michigan (Coupled Predator Prey Equations),  $10,000,  1991-1992.

 

National Science Foundation (Rainforest Dynamics), $160,000,  1989-1993.

 

Office of Vice President for Research,  Unviersity of Michigan (Bridging funds for rain forest dynamics)  $10,000,  1994 - 1995.

 

Arthur Thurnau Distinguished Professorship.  $20,000,  1994.

 

National Science Foundation (Continued studies of rain forest dynamics) $250,000,  1995 -1999.

 

Sokal Distinguished Faculty Award.  $25,000,  1996

 

Fullbright Senior Fellowship,  the Netherlands,  1996-1997

 

Semper Verdens award (awarded to CIDCA from Ministry of Natural Resources) for best natural resources research project in Nicaragua, 1997

 

National Science Foundation (Role of agroecosystems in post agricultural succession). $200,000.  1999 - 2002.

 

National Science Foundation (Continuing studies of hurricane-damaged rain forests in Nicaragua $210, 000,  2002 - 2006.

 

Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor.  2002 - Active.

 

MacIntyre Stennis grant (co PI with I. Perfecto, Forest succession in oak-dominated Michigan forests) -- $10, 000,  2002 - Active.

 

National Science Foundation (co PI with I. Perfecto, Spatial scaling with an unusual food web structure: The case of Azteca spp. ants in the coffee agroecosystem of southern Mexico), $500, 000, 2004 - Active .

 

 

 

Editorial Positions

Associate Editor:  Theoretical Population Biology,  l970-l978.
Consulting Editor:  Journal of Mathematical Biology,  1974-1979.
Associate Editor: Capitalism,  Socialism,  and Nature, l989 - 1991.
Associate Editor:  Agroforestry Systems,  1998 - 2001
Consulting Editor: Agriculture and Human Values,  l986 - present.
Associate Editor:  The Centennial Review,  l989 - present.
Consulting Editor:  Wani,  (Nicaragua),  1991 - present.

 

Recent advisory boards and consultantships

Advisory Member,  Biodiversity Program,  Centro de Investigaciones y Documentación de la Costa Atlantica (CIDCA - Nicaragua) -- 1995 - present.

 

Michigan Representative for Agriculture,  Midwest University Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) -- 1992- present.

 

Group Leader (co leader with C.  Ong),  Biodiversity in Agriculture Focus,  Global Change in Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) -- 1994 - 1999.

 

Board of Trustees, Institute for Food and Development Policy, San Francisco -- 1998-2003.


Board Member,  Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) -- 1990 - 1999.

 

Advisory Board,  Institute for Responsible Genetics -- 1987 - present.

 

Advisory Board,  Institute for Central American Development Studies -- 1987 - present.

 

Faculty Advisory Committee on Recruitment and Hiring (University of Michigan) 2002 – present

 

Associated faculty – Interdisciplinary Training Progream in Infectious Disease (School of Public Health, University of Michigan).  2002 - present.

 

STRIDE committee (Science and Technology Recruiting for Diversity and Excellence), University of Michigan. 2002-present.

 

Faculty associate, Agrarian University of Havana (Program on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development).  2005 – present.

 

 

 

Recent Invited Seminars and Symposia (2000-2007)

 

Michigan State University (Department of Plants and Plant Pathology Seminar) 2000

 

University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario  (Deparment of Zoology seminar) 2000

 

University of Miami, Miami Florida (Department of Biology seminar) 2000

 

William College,  William Mass (General Seminar) 2000

 

International Crop Science Society Meetings,  Hamburg, Germany (Plenary Speaker) 2000

 

University of Minnesota (Sustainable development program – General seminar) 2000

 

University of California at Santa Cruz, (General Seminar, Environmental Studies) 2001

 

Center for agricultural research and development (Havana, Cuba) – (Plenary talk on agricultural development in the Third World), 2001.

 

Colegio de la Frontera Sur (San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico) – Plenary talk on Biodiversity 2001

 

Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Tapachula,  Mexico) -- (Diplomado en Cafecultura) 2002

 

Ecological Society of America (Symposium on Agroecology) 2002

 

Ecological Society of America (Workshop on Chaos in Ecological Systems) 2002

 

University of Michigan (Shipman series – Rainforest preservation)  2002

 

University of Amsterdam (Biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics group) – (Symposium on complex dynamics in ecosystems), 2002

 

University of Florence (Department of Animal Biology) (Lecture series on Biodiversity), 2003.

 

University of Florence (Department of Applied Mathematics) (Ecosystems as coupled oscillators), 2003.

 

Miami of Ohio (Department of Biology) Public lecture on biodiversity and agroecosystenms, March 2003

 

Andrews University (Departments of Biology and Mathematics) – General seminar on complex systems in ecology, 2003.

 

McGill (Department of Biology) – General seminar on ecosystems as coupled oscillators, 2003.

 

Bodoin College (Department of Biology) – General seminar on conservation in agroecosystems 2003.

 

International Symposium on Complex Systems  (Havana, Cuba), Invited speaker on coupled oscillators.  2004.

 

Agrarian University of Havana (Program on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development), Plenary Talk on agroecology and rural development. 2004.

 

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Ecology Department), Brazil -- general seminar on conservation. 2004.

 

Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Minas Gerais (Agronomy Department), Brazil -- general seminar on conservation. 2004.

 

EMBRAPA (Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture), Seropegica, Brazil -- general seminar on matrix quality and agroforestry. 2004.

 

National Agroecological Meetings of Brazil, Porto Alegre, Brazil -- plenary speaker on conservation and agroecology. 2004.

 

University of Texas, general seminar on Women in Science, 2006.

 

Hope College (Joint Mathematics and Biology Seminar), 2006.

 

Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Tapachula, Mexico – general seminar, 2006.

 

Ecological Society of America, Annual Meeting – Symposium on Environmental Justice, 2006.

 

Colorado College – general seminar, 2006.

 

Rice University – General Seminar Biology Dept,  2007.

 

University of Minnesota – Seminar on Women in Science to Chairs and Directors of the Institute of Technology,  2007.

 

Howard University – General Seminar, Biology Department,  2007.

 

Ecological Society of America,  Annual Meeting – Symposium on Agricultural Landscapes, 2007.

 

Wright State University -- Seminar on Women in Science.  2007.

 

EcoSummit, 2007,  Bejing, China – Symposium on ecology in agricultural landscapes, 2007.

 

Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation – Plenary Speaker – Ecological theory, political reality and a new conservation paradigm, 2007.

 

Ohio State University – School of Environment and Natural Resources – General Seminar, 2007.

 

 

 

Former Doctoral Students

 

William Durham, Stanford University, Prof. of Anthropology

 

Marlene Palmer, IBM

 

Les Real, , Emory University,   Prof. of Biology

 

Catherine Bach, Eastern Michigan University,  Prof. of Biology

 

Steven Risch, , University of California,  Berkeley (deceased)

 

Robert Glesener, Brevard College, Prof.  of Biology

 

Diane DeSteven, Univ. of Wis. at Milwaukee, Prof. of Biology

 

Kay Dewey, , Univ. of Calif. at Davis, Prof.  of Nutrition

 

Katherine Yih, , Mass.  Dept.  of Pub.  Health. (Epidemiologist)

 

Michael Hansen , Institute for Consumer Policy Studies

 

Brian Schultz, , Professor, Hampshire College

 

Peter Rosset, Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano (CECCAM) , Oxaca, Mexico

 

Hugh McGuinness, Friends World College,  Assistant Professor

 

Katherine Savoie, Coordinator,  CASC,  Detroit

 

Margaret Reeves, Coordinator, Latin American Program of Pesticide Action Network

 

Eduardo Somarriba, CATIE,  Costa Rica,  Professor of agroecology 

 

Ed Russel, University of Virginia,  Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society and History

 

Kristen Nelson, University of Minnesota,  Assistant Professor of Natural Resources

 

Gerald Urquhart, Asst. Prof., Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State Univ.

 

Chris Picone, , Assistant Professor, Mount Holyoke College

 

Bruce Ferguson, Assistant Professor ECOSUR, Chiapas, Mexico

 

Dan Griffith, Post Doc,  World Wildlife Institute, Nicaragua

 

Stacy Philpott, Assistant Professor,  University of Toledo

 

Krista McGuire, Post Doc. UC Irvine

 

 

 

Current Graduate Students

 

Jahi Chappell , PhD. EEB (chair)

 

Javier Ruiz, PhD. EEB (chair)

 

Zach Miller, PhD. EEB (chair)

 

Heidi Liere, PhD, EEB (chair)

 

Shalane Jha, PhD, EEB (co-chair)

 

David Allen, PhD, EEB (chair)

 

Aley Joseph, PhD, EEB (chair)

 

Doug Jackson, Masters, EEB (chair)

 

Oton Barrios, PhD SNRE (committee member)

 

Luis Chaves, PhD EEB (committee member)

 

Casey Taylor, Masters (committee member)

 

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