School of forestry and environmental studies

School Notes: School of the Environment
July/August 2015

Ingrid C. “Indy” Burke | http://environment.yale.edu

Honoring a pioneer in industrial ecology

In April the F&ES community celebrated the career of Professor Thomas Graedel, a pioneer in the field of industrial ecology, with a series of events including a symposium held in his honor. Since joining F&ES as a full-time professor in 1997, Graedel has helped cement Yale as a global leader in the development and institutionalization of industrial ecology, which explores the flow of energy and materials through industrial systems; its effects on the environment; and how economic, political, regulatory, and social impacts might transform these systems. He has also conducted seminal research in the field and coalesced a global community of academic, industry, and policy leaders who are tackling a wide range of environmental challenges. In 1998 he helped establish the Yale Center for Industrial Ecology. On April 23, colleagues and former students from around the world gathered at F&ES for a symposium to discuss the state of industrial ecology research—and to reflect on how Graedel’s work has helped shape the field. 

Three faculty members named to endowed professorships

This spring the Yale Corporation approved the recommendation of Yale president Peter Salovey and F&ES dean Peter Crane to appoint three members of the school’s faculty to prestigious endowed professorships. During the F&ES Leadership Council in April, President Salovey announced that James Saiers was appointed the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Hydrology; David Skelly was named the Frank R. Oastler Professor of Ecology; and Michelle Bell was named the Mary E. Pinchot Professor of Environmental Health. Saiers, who studies natural processes and human activities that affect the quality and supply of fresh water, is also associate dean for academic affairs. Skelly studies the ecological mechanisms of animal distributions and how to develop the means to apply that understanding to conservation and management. He is also the director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Bell studies the link between human health and atmospheric systems. She holds secondary appointments with the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale environmental engineering program.

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