Stephen C. Stearns
Stephen C. Stearns is an American biologist, and the Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Emeritus at Yale University. He is known for his work in life history theory and evolutionary medicine.
Early life and education
Stearns was born in Kapaau, Hawaii and raised in Hawi, Hawaii. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at Yale University in 1967, he received a Master of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1971. He earned a PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1975 and was awarded a Miller Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley the same year.Career
From 1978 to 1983, Stearns served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Reed College. He then became a Professor of Zoology at the University of Basel, a position he held from 1983 to 2000. From 1991 to 1998, he was the President of the Tropical Biology Association. From 1994 to 1998, he chaired the European Science Foundation Program in Population Biology. In 1995, he served as Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, and in 1995-1996, he was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Basel. From 2002 to 2005, he chaired the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, where he has been the Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology since 2000.Investment in Infrastructure
In 1987, Stearns helped to found the European Society for Evolutionary Biology and later served on its council and as its president. He founded the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, ESEB's main journal, and served as its first managing editor from 1986 to 1991 before later joining its Editorial Board. In 1991, he and Tim Clutton-Brock founded the Tropical Biology Association. In 2013, he founded the online open-access journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health and served five years as its first editor-in-chief.Awards and honors
- 1987: Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- 1993: European Chair of Biology at the École normale supérieure, Paris.
- 2000: Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications for a book he wrote with his wife, Beverly Peterson Stearns, Watching, from the Edge of Extinction.
- 2000: Distinguished Ecologist, University of Michigan.
- 2004: Raymond Pearl Memorial Lecturer, Human Biology Association.
- 2005: Fellow, Konrad Lorenz Institute.
- 2005: Fellow, Rockefeller Bellagio Conference and Study Center.
- 2005: Honorary Member of the Swiss Zoological Society.
- 2007: Fellow, European Society for Evolutionary Biology.
- 2011: DeVane Medal for distinction in undergraduate teaching, Yale University Phi Beta Kappa.
- 2011–2012: Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
- 2015: Honorary Doctorate, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Zurich.
- 2021: Yale College Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize
Selected publications
Books
The Evolution of Sex and its Consequences The Evolution of Life Histories Evolution in Health and Disease Evolution, an Introduction- ''Evolutionary Medicine''
Papers
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