James H. Brown

James Hemphill Brown (born 1942) is an American biologist and academic. He is an ecologist, and a Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico. His work has focused on 3 distinct aspects of ecology: 1) the population and community ecology of rodents and harvester ants in the Chihuahuan Desert, 2) large-scale questions relating to the distribution of body size, abundance and geographic range of animals, leading to the development of the field of macroecology, a term that was coined in a paper Brown co-authored with Brian Maurer of Michigan State University. and 3) the Metabolic Theory of Ecology. In 2005 he was awarded the Robert H. MacArthur Award by the Ecological Society of America for his work, including his work toward a metabolic theory of ecology. Between 1969 and 2011 he was awarded over $18.4 million in grants for his research. Education and honors Education Brown received a bachelors with honors in 1963 before obtaining his PhD in 1967: Bachelor of Arts, Zoology, 1963, Cornell University PhD, Zoology, 1967, University of Michigan