College of Biological Sciences (CBS) faculty members Sarah Hobbie, Forest Isbell, Peter Kennedy, David Tilman, and Dan Voytas were included in Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers 2024, which highlights researchers with multiple papers in the top one percent of citation counts in the last decade. Stephen Polansky and Dan Knights, who hold joint appointments in CBS, as well as former faculty members Jeannine Cavender-Bares and Michael Sadowsky were also included on the list.
Sarah Hobbie is a Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and director of the Minneapolis Saint Paul Urban Long-Term Ecological Research program. Hobbie is broadly interested in ecosystem ecology and the interconnected roles that environmental changes such as climate, urbanization, plant diversity, and nutrient cycling play in ecosystem functioning.
Forest Isbell is an associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, who studies the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functioning and how global environmental changes (e.g., habitat loss and fragmentation, nutrient enrichment, climate change, invasive species) drive changes in biodiversity and ecosystems.
Peter Kennedy is a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Wardle Chair of Microbial Ecology. He integrates multiple biological disciplines – mycology, microbiology, ecology, evolution, molecular biology, and biochemistry – to understand how both biotic and abiotic factors influence the structure and functioning of ecological communities.
David Tilman is a Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, and former director of Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. He is known for his experimental and theoretical work on competition and on the mechanistic causes of multispecies coexistence, and for demonstrating via rigorous field experiments and theory that biodiversity is of central importance to the functioning of ecosystems.
Dan Voytas is a McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development as well as director of the Center for Precision Plant Genomics. Research in the Voytas lab aims to precisely edit the DNA of plants with an eye to developing more resilient crops and a more secure food supply.
In addition, a number of affiliated and former faculty made the list, including:
- College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Regents Professor Stephen Polasky, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
- Dan Knights, an associate professor in the College of Science and Engineering with a joint appointment in the BioTechnology Institute
- Michael Sadowsky, a professor emeritus in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources, and former director of the BioTechnology Institute.
- Jeannine Cavender-Bares, former Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior professor (now adjunct), and current member of the faculty at Harvard University.