Athens, Ga. – Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., will award an honorary doctor of science degree on June 10 to University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor of plant biology, Stephen P. Hubbell. The award is the latest for the internationally recognized plant biologist.
Hubbell is a 1963 graduate of Carleton, and his research on tropical rainforests and theoretical ecology has made him known worldwide. Also a senior staff scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Hubbell is the author of three books and more than 130 scientific papers on tropical plant ecology, theoretical ecology, plant-animal interactions and numerous other areas of inquiry.
He has won numerous honors for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pew Scholar Award in Conservation and the Environment. He also received the Distinguished Service Medal from the Society for Conservation Biology and has presented invited lectures all over the world.
He is founder and chairman of the board of the National Council for Science and the Environment, an organization with more than 10,000 members and the participation of over 200 universities and professional societies. The mission of the NCSE is improving the science underlying environmental decision-making. Hubbell is also co-founder and board member of the Center for Tropical Forest Science, which manages a global network of permanent tropical forest research plots.
In 2003, Hubbell was named to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The current membership of that group includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. Drawing on the wide-ranging expertise of its membership, the American Academy conducts studies on international security, social policy, education and the humanities.
In addition, Hubbell is the creator of a well-known educational board game, Extinction: The Game of Ecology.
Also receiving an honorary degree at Carleton College on June 10 is Lila Abu-Lughod, professor of anthropology and women’s studies at Columbia University and a 1974 graduate of Carleton.
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