The Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholars Program was created in July 2002 with a generous gift by Edward P. Bass to YIBS.
The Bass Visiting Environmental Scholars Program brings premier scholars in any field dealing with the study of the environment, past or present, to Yale for an extended period of time. The scholars are nominated through the YIBS Faculty Affiliates, and while in residence at Yale, scholars present seminars, interact with faculty, students and research groups, and participate in the life of one or more academic units.
Dr. Rita Colwell was named as the inaugural Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholar in the spring of 2005, and YIBS has hosted upwards of 40 scholars since then.
Current Bass Environmental Scholars
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Emilio BrunaResearch Description: Emilio Bruna uses field experiments, long-term surveys, and mathematical models to study how deforestation and climate change affect the ecology and population dynamics of tropical plants. His research is primarily based in the Brazilian Amazon, where deforestation is a leading driver of plant extinction. While climate change and deforestation are thought to accelerate extinction rates, few studies have explored their combined effects. Bruna and his Yale colleagues will investigate how predicted increases in drought frequency and intensity in the Amazon Basin might interact with deforestation to impact plant demographics and population dynamics. They are particularly focused on herbaceous plants, which make up a significant portion of tropical forest species, provide essential habitat and food for animals, and are culturally important to indigenous and traditional communities. Ultimately, they aim to understand how this understudied group of plants responds to climate change and will collaborate with a global network of scientists to expand this research across the tropics. Appointment Date: Fall 2024, Spring and Summer 2025 |
Past Bass Environmental Scholars
| Stanley Ambrose (Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois) | Spring 2024 |
| Timothy Lyons (Distinguished Professor of Biogeochemistry, University of California, Riverside) | Spring 2024 |
| Thomas Bianchi (Professor of Geology, Jon L. and Beverly A. Thompson Endowed Chair of Geological Sciences, University of Florida) | Fall 2023 |
| Carlos Navas (Professor of Physiology, Physiology Department of the Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo) | Fall 2023 |
| Erin Saupe (Associate Professor of Palaeobiology, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford) | Spring 2023 |
| Greg Wilson Mantilla (Professor, Department of Biology, University of Washington) | Spring 2023 |
| Cheryl Knott (Professor, Department of Anthropology, Boston University) | Fall 2022 |
| Rees Kassen (Professor, University of Ottawa) | Fall 2022 |
| José Paruelo (Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (Uruguay) & IFEVA-Facultad de Agronomía. Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET) | Spring 2022 |
| Caroline Strömberg (Estella B. Leopold Professor in Biology and Curator of Paleobotany, University of Washington) | Spring 2022 |
| Steven Hamburg (Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund) | Fall 2020 |
| John Damuth (Research Biologist of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, Univeristy of California, Santa Barbara) |
Fall 2019 & Spring 2020 |
| Susan Mazer (Professor of Ecology and Evolution
University of California, Santa Barbara; President, California Botanical Society) |
Fall 2019 & Spring 2020 |
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Michael Hochberg (Research Director, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Montpellier, France) |
Fall 2019 |
| P. David Polly (American paleontologist and the Robert R. Shrock Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University) | Spring 2019 |
| Mark Swilling (Distinguished Professor and Programme Coordinator: Sustainable Development in the School of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch and Academic Director of the Sustainability Institute) | Spring 2018 |
| Nancy Knowlton (coral reef biologist and is the Smithsonian Institution’s Sant Chair for Marine Science) | Fall 2017 |
| Robert Wallace (Director, Greater Madidi - Tambopata Landscape & Amazon Landscape Conservation Expert Wildlife Conservation Society) | Spring 2017 |
| Roy Plotnick (Professor Invertebrate Paleontology, Landscape Ecology, Statistical Methods) | Spring 2017 |
| Aaron Ellison (ecologist & environmental conservationist) | Spring 2016 |
| Ana Magdalena Hurtado (evolutionary anthropologist) | Spring 2016 |
| Julia Marton-Lefèvre (environmentalist & academic) | Spring 2016 |
| Grae Worster (fluid dynamicist) | Spring 2016 |
| Bill Weber (wildlife conservationist) | Spring 2014 |
| Jeremy Jackson (marine ecologist & paleontologist) | Spring 2014 |
| Jonathan Bloch (paleontologist) | Spring 2013 |
| Hugh Possingham (conservation biologist) | Spring 2013 |
| Carlos Jaramillo (paleobiologist & geologist) | Fall 2012 & Spring 2013 |
| Arne Mooers (evolutionary biologist) | Spring 2012 |
| Scott Wing (biologist) | Spring 2012 |
| Daniel Lashof (climate policy expert) | Fall 2011 |
| Dame Alison Richard (anthropologist & conservationist) | Summer & Fall 2011 |
| Kevin de Queiroz (zoologist) | Spring 2011 |
| Link Olson (biologist) | Spring 2011 |
| Paul Richards (anthropologist) | Spring 2011 |
| Rosemary & Peter Grant (evolutionary biologists) | Fall 2010 |
| David Fox (evolutionary paleoecologist) | Spring 2010 |
| Inez Fung (atmospheric scientist) | Fall 2009 & Spring 2010 |
| Michael Benton (paleontologist) | Spring 2009 |
| David Beerling (geobiologist) | Fall 2008 & Spring 2009 |
| Christian Koerner (botanist) | Spring 2007 |
| William Cronon (environmental historian) | Spring 2007 |
| Michael Teitelbaum (demographer) | Fall 2006 & Spring 2007 |
| Stephen Sparks (volcanologist) | Fall 2006 & Spring 2007 |
| Dorceta Taylor (sociologist) | Fall 2005 |
| Rita Colwell (environmental microbiologist) | Spring 2005 |