A Change in the BES Community: A New Position for Peter Groffman

One of the founding members of BES, who has been at the Cary Institute since the project was in its formative phase, is pursuing a new career direction.  Peter helped design BES, and serves as Deputy Director.  He has been, and I am assured will remain, an important leader in our project.  He will also remain at the helm of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) community in general, serving as Chair of the Science Council and of its Executive Committee.  We look forward to Peter’s continued leadership and scientific contributions to BES.

I quote from the announcement by the President of the Cary Institute, Dr. Josh Ginsberg, who provides details of Peter’s new and exciting position:

“As of October 1, Peter Groffman will be taking on a new

challenge as a Professor at the at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York [CUNY].  The ASRC is a new, dynamic research center at CUNY and will offer Peter a remarkable opportunity to build new collaborations, interact more extensively with students, and pursue new approaches to ecosystem science. 

Peter is a stalwart of the Cary Institute community and while he will be spending much of his time at CUNY he will remain strongly affiliated with the Cary Institute.  Peter’s interests and engagement in our research programs in Baltimore and at Hubbard Brook, will continue, his laboratory will remain here, and he plans to spend at least one day a week at the Institute, perhaps visiting more frequently in the summer. Nonetheless, even with a strong anchor in our community he will be sorely missed.
In the past, staff have spent time at institutions away from our home base — whether in France working with the Centre National de la Research Scientifique (CNRS), on sabbatical in Australia, working at the NSF, or at other academic institutions across the country.  These forays build new partnerships, bring new ideas back to the Institute, and allow staff to work with a diversity of faculty and students across disciplines not represented in our small and distinguished community.  While Peter’s foray to CUNY is open-ended, he will always be welcome at the Institute.”