Don't let the warm, unassuming smile and the cheery British inflection in Stuart Pimm's voice fool you. Pimm is no ordinary science teacher.
Already the recipient of several accolades over the past decade, Pimm was recognized this year by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the world's most highly cited scientists. And now he can add "first Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology" to his list of distinctions.
Pimm, now rounding out his third week at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, is lauded as one of the world's foremost experts on endangered species and habitat destruction.
"I've known of his research for about 20 years.... I'm just thrilled that he is here," said Norm Christensen, former dean of the Nicholas School. "He adds a tremendous amount to the faculty. Besides being a distinguished scholar, he's a colossal teacher."
Pimm's move came about when the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation invited the Nicholas School to submit a proposal for the creation of a professorship that, said Christensen, was largely modeled after Pimm.
The Foundation agreed to fund an endowment for Pimm, and he was successfully recruited from Columbia University's Center for Environmental Research and Conservation to continue his research in conservation biology and environmental management at Duke.
Pimm said his aim is to promote research that will influence the everyday decisions "affecting the planet that our children will inherit." Pimm's new position furnishes him with the resources necessary to ensure that his goals are met: It awards him access not only to a $1.7 million grant, but also affords him access to students in the largest master's program in environmental management in the world.
Pimm plans to take advantage of this opportunity to train conservation specialists to have an understanding of science as well as an understanding of policy and the people skills necessary to communicate their findings to the outside world.
"Often scientists sit up in their ivory towers and wait for other people to find out what they're doing. They just can't afford that.... Scientists have a responsibility," Pimm said, stressing the importance of creating a bridge between scientists in the lab and policy makers on Capitol Hill.
Pimm's intense interest in environmental policy, in fact, sends him to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress several times a year. His efforts to help politicians make more informed decisions regarding the Endangered Species Act allow him to share the inside of his lab with the outside world. "I'm a teacher," he noted. "Why draw a fence around politicians and the media?"
Pimm splits his time between politics in D.C., academia at Duke, and summer field work that takes him all over the world.
Although much of his research is based in the Florida Everglades, he is heavily invested in international projects, primarily in South Africa and Brazil.
Each member of the close-knit group of doctorate students working in Pimm's lab at Duke conducts research involving environments around the globe. Pimm's entire team actually followed him from Columbia University to the Nicholas School. In fact, said graduate student Luke Dollar, "he wouldn't go unless we agreed."
Although their projects--based in countries from Madagascar to Mexico--rarely overlap, the students have all become "very good friends," Dollar said. "We call ourselves 'The Family.'"
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