Monica G. Turner

Monica G. Turner is the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Ecology and a Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an ecosystem and landscape ecologist who earned her BS in Biology from Fordham University and her PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia. She spent seven years as a research scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory before joining UW-Madison in 1994. Her research blends field work, spatial analysis, and simulation modeling to address questions related to landscape disturbance dynamics, climate change, forest resilience, biogeochemical cycling, land-use change, and ecosystem services in both wildland and working landscapes. She helped catalyze the rise of landscape ecology in the US and is known for pioneering studies of natural disturbances, particularly wildfire in Greater Yellowstone. Turner is a past president of the Ecological Society of America (ESA, 2016); recipient of ESA’s Robert H. MacArthur Award (2008) and Eminent Ecologist Award (2020), and the Franklin Institute’s Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences (2021), and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023). She is an honorary member of the British Ecological Society (2023); fellow of ESA (2012) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2021); and founding co-editor in chief of the journal, ECOSYSTEMS. Turner is deeply committed to training the next generation of ecologists and sharing her enthusiasm for science with her students.