Stephen Porder

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Fellow in the Institute at Brown For Environment and Society
Associate Provost For Sustainability

Stephen Porder is the Acacia Professor of Ecology. Evolutionary and Organismal Biology and Environment and Society at Brown University, where he serves as Associate Provost for Sustainability.  His basic research focuses on nutrient and carbon cycling in tropical rainforests, the implications (both biophysical and societal) of industrial agriculture in the tropics, and the potential for large scale tropical forest restoration. However recently he works more closely at the intersection of science and institutional solutions to climate change. He is the founder and science lead on the radioshow/podcast Possibly, which explores everyday issues related to sustainability and airs on public radio stations around the country. He is the author of Elemental: Five elements that changed Earth's past and will shape our future. Dr. Porder received his BA in History from Amherst College in 1994, his MS in Geology from The University of Montana in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 2005.  He joined the Brown faculty in 2007.