Bill Fagan

Bill Fagan, the Associate Director for Research Innovation, is a Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland. He is well known for his research at the interface of ecological theory and data, much of which has major implications for conservation and planning. He has authored more than 125 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on diverse topics in ecology and conservation biology. His primary research blends theory, experiments, remote sensing, and database research to study critical questions in spatial and theoretical ecology. Current projects focus on ecoinformatics (including studies of animal movements, species distributions, and population abundance), successional dynamics, and the prediction of species’ intrinsic rates of increase. He is also a co-founder of the innovative MathBench program, which NSF and HHMI have funded to infuse quantitative thinking and mathematical proficiency in undergraduate biology curricula nationwide. Bill currently oversees a lab of 2 assistant research professors, 3 postdocs, and 7 graduate students. Past graduates from his lab include 7 students receiving PhDs and 4 students receiving Masters degrees. In addition to extensive funding from the Department of Defense, NASA, the James S. McDonnell Foundation and other sources, he is or has been a PI on six major NSF grants originating from three different directorates, with funding as coPI on numerous additional NSF awards, including two that extend to a fourth directorate. Among other honors, Bill has received the University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher award (2010), the Presidential Award from The American Society of Naturalists (2005), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2001). Bill graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an Honors B.A. in Biology from the University of Delaware in 1992 and from the University of Washiington in 1996 with a PhD in Zoology.