About
George W. Kling is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. He graduated from the University of Colorado (1982) with a Bachelor’s degree in biology, and from Duke University (1988) with a Ph.D. in zoology. His postdoctoral studies were done at the Ecosystems Center in Woods Hole, MA, and he joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1991. Kling primarily studies aquatic ecology and biogeochemistry, and his research has focused on carbon and nutrient cycling, on using stable isotopes to understand food-web interactions, on the integration of lakes and streams in a landscape context, and on the role of microbial diversity in ecosystem function. He has worked internationally on arctic lakes and streams and on tropical lakes in Africa. Kling’s scientific outreach to the public through interviews about his research on climate change and on the killer lakes of Cameroon includes 300+ articles in magazines and newspapers, T.V. and radio broadcasts, and television films. He has met regularly with U.S. Congress members to discuss issues of climate change and scientific integrity, and was lead author of the Union of Concerned Scientists–Ecological Society of America publication ‘Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region’ (2003). Kling is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship, a National Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award, the United Nations Sasakawa Award (Certificate for Disaster Reduction in tropical lakes), a Republic of Cameroon Presidential Medal for Service in reducing environmental hazards, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) John Martin Award for a high-impact paper in the field, and the ASLO Ruth Patrick Award for environmental problem solving.
