Lubchenco, Jane

▪ 2003

      “Think globally and act locally” was a popular catchphrase that gained currency during the environmental movement of the late 20th century. American marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco was among the few who were in the position to both think and act globally. From the vantage point of the many national and international advisory panels on which she sat, she had made a career of informing public policy on environmental issues. In 2002, for example, she became the president of the International Council for Science, which promoted interdisciplinary science. Recognizing that environmental change did not come about without mass participation, she sought ways to better inform the public of scientific issues and to bridge the gulf between researchers and the rest of the world. In a 1997 speech, while she was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she proposed the idea of a social contract between scientists and society. “The environment is not a marginal issue,” she cautioned. Lubchenco also argued that the unseen benefits, or services, of nature—such as decomposition of wastes, protection from ultraviolet rays, and flood control—ought to be considered in the projected cost accounting for large-scale man-made projects. In addition to her work as an outspoken science administrator, Lubchenco served as a professor of marine biology in the department of zoology at Oregon State University. Her husband, Bruce Menge, shared a laboratory with her there.

      Lubchenco was born Dec. 4, 1947, in Denver, Colo. She was educated at Colorado College (B.A., 1969), the University of Washington (M.S., 1971), and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1975), and her thesis work focused on community structure in coastal rockpools. In 1977 she began teaching marine biology at Oregon State University, and the following year she became a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Her areas of research interest included algal ecology, plant-herbivore and predator-prey interactions, global change community structure, and the evolutionary ecology of individuals.

      In 1996 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, where she became a council member in 1999. She was also a member of the American Philosophical Society (1998), the Association for Women in Science (1997), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1990). She had been the chair of the task force on the environment at the National Science Board and an adviser to Religion, Science, and the Environment, a cross-disciplinary partnership of scientists and religious leaders. In addition, she won numerous grants and awards, and her research was widely reported in academic journals, science magazines, and scholarly books.

Tom Michael

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