wins national honor
A limnologist, Gene Likens is used to having people ask him exactly what it is he does (limnologists study inland lakes and streams).
The Yale professor of ecology and evolutionary biology was thus unfazed when, after being awarded the 2001 National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony in June of this year, the news failed to make headlines in Yale publications, including this one.
Yet, Likens, also an ecologist, is one of just a few in his field ever to earn the medal, the nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in the sciences.
The honor escaped University attention because Likens spends most of his time off campus as the director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, (the national press release announcing this year's medalists release noted only this title and not his affiliation with Yale) and conducts much of his research on lake and stream ecosystems in the forests of New Hampshire's White Mountains.
And while the Yale scientist may be too humble to boast of his own accomplishments, he is internationally recognized, not only as a foremost expert on lake and stream ecosystems, but also as a leading ecologist who is credited with discovering acid rain in North America.
"Gene Likens is, quite simply, one of the best ecologists the world has ever had," says J. Gustave Speth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. "His accomplishments are matched only by his modesty. Gene is also someone who never feared to move his scientific findings into the policy arena, and was a principal contributor to the National Commission on the Environment in 1993." The commission issued a major report for the U.S. government on environmental issues and environmental policy.
Likens was one of 14 scientists and one engineer to receive the National Medal of Science at a June 13 White House ceremony. President George W. Bush presented the awards. Also attending the ceremony was Jerry M. Woodall, the C. Baldwin Sawyer Professor of Electrical Engineering, professor of applied physics and co-director of the Center for Microelectronic Materials and Structures, who was one of four engineers across the nation -- and the first Yale faculty member -- to earn an equally prestigious honor -- the National Medal of Technology. (See the May 24, 2002 issue of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.)
Congress established the National Medal of Science in 1959 as a Presidential Award that is given to individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sciences." The National Science Foundation administers the award.
Likens says he is particularly proud of the honor since it has so infrequently been bestowed on an ecologist.
"[Receiving the medal] was an unexpected and truly great honor," he comments. "The events for awardees lasted much of a week in Washington and were awesome in character. I was able to have my family join me in the activities, which was a special treat for me. One of the truly exciting aspects was that they choose to honor an ecologist. I'm pleased about the visibility it gives to the field."
Likens and his colleagues were the first to document the link between the increasing acidity of precipitation and fossil fuel combustion in North America, and the long-term consequences of this phenomenon -- acid rain. In addition to stimulating new scientific studies and greater public awareness about this issue, Likens' work in this area has also led to national legislation to address the effects of acid rain. His approach has become a model in the science of ecology and in the application of science to find solutions for global environmental problems.
In the early 1960s, Likens and another Yale scientist, F. Herbert Bormann, the Oastler Professor Emeritus of Forest Ecology, developed and began managing the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, the first long-term, controlled set of experiments on a whole forest ecosystem. Research from Hubbard Brook, located in New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest, is credited with playing an important role in the development of the 1990 Clean Air Act. Likens continues to conduct studies at Hubbard Brook, collaborating with students at Yale, Cornell and Rutgers universities. He serves as an adjunct professor at Cornell, where he has taught since 1969, and has been a professor at Rutgers since 1985. He has been a member of the Yale faculty since 1984.
In 1983, the Yale ecologist was hired by The New York Botanical Garden to found the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, which has become one of the world's leading ecological research centers. In 1993, the center became a not-for-profit independent institution, separate from The New York Botanical Garden. In 2000, Likens was named the first incumbent of the institute's first endowed chair, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Chair in Ecology, which was named in memory of the late Yale faculty member and renowned evolutionary ecologist who is known internationally as the "Father of Limnology."
An adviser at state, national and international levels on the ecological effects of air pollution and acid rain, Likens has been honored with numerous other prestigious awards for his scientific contributions.He has written or editedmore than a dozen books and more than 500 scientific articles and papers.He is the current president of the American Institute for Biological Sciences, Societas Internationalis of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).
In an article that appeared recently in a newsletter published by ASLO, the society's president, William M. Lewis Jr., congratulated Likens on winning the National Medal of Science and noted the Yale ecologist's work across a number of disciplines, including ecology, biology, limnology and biogeochemistry, among others.
"Gene Likens is a scientist's scientist," Lewis wrote. [H]e richly deserves his medal.
"Furthermore," he quipped, "while he is not just a limnologist, he is a limnologist."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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