So you can quote the authors and years of foundational papers on ecology's unerstanding of the maintenance, generation, and distribution of diversity in nature? Who cares? What have you done for the world, or what could you do?

Let no one forget, neither the ecologists nor the people who need their skills, that an industrial world, in both economic and social terms, is managed by metrics familiar to ecological theory. Many of the keywords are the same: productivity, diversity, competition, diversification, adaptation, extinction, mutualism, top-down, bottom-up, disturbance, stability, portfolio effects.

People out there need your skills. They need experimental design. They need basic statistics. People need writers accustomed to complex, technical issues. People need programmers. People need math. People need attention to detail. People need data. People need imagination. People need an education.

Beyond basic research but just shy of application, there is something of a void in what we do with our scientific careers. Funding agencies place increasing emphasis on "outreach," communication between scientists and their greater community. But don't forget that you can step outside your university and become part of that greater community.

Nicholas A. Friedenberg
naf@archidictus.org

Senior Scientist: Applied Biomathematics, NY, 2009-present
Research Scientist: Stony Brook University, NY, 2007-2009
Research Scientist: Applied Biomathematics, NY, 2007-2009
Postdoc: Dartmouth College, NH, 2005
Visiting Scholar, Dartmouth College, NH, 2004
Postdoc: Zoology, University of Florida, FL, 2003
Ph.D.: Dartmouth College, NH, 2002
B.A.: Biology, Carleton College, MN, 1996

CV
Publications

Research Interests:
Ecology and evolution of disease
Evolution of pesticide resistance
Population dynamic modeling
Risk analysis

Recent Projects:
RAMAS IRM: Software for risk-based durability assessment
Risk assessment for endangered sturgeons in the United States
Teaching quantitative reasoning in Environmental Studies
Assessing the risk of wind power to golden eagle populations
Multispecies conservation strategies