Douglas W. Schemske

John A. Hannah Distinguished Professors College of Natural Science

• John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor

• Plant Biology

Bio

Douglas W. Schemske, professor emeritus of plant biology and John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor, is a world-renowned leader in plant adaptation research. His studies aim to characterize the genetic architecture of adaptation as it relates to the origin and maintenance of biological diversity through a combined understanding of local ecology and plant genetics. Schemske, who retired from MSU earlier this year, held joint appointments in the MSU Departments of Plant Biology and Horticulture and was a faculty member of MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. He continues his research and maintains collaborations with a number of MSU faculty members.

Schemske received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He held academic positions at Amherst College, the University of Chicago and the University of Washington prior to joining MSU in 2001.

  Schemske was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in May 2017 in honor of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research in the fields of population biology and evolutionary ecology. He has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including the E. O. Wilson Naturalist Award and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.