Professor Don Zak

Don Zak has been named the Burton V. Barnes Collegiate Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, effective Sept. 1, 2009. He is also a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and an adjunct professor in LSA's Department of Geological Sciences.

Barnes, a U-M professor emeritus and SNRE alumnus, is a world-renowned forest ecologist who worked to understand the biology and ecology of forests over a career that spans decades. "I've always believed that ecological ideas should be tested through field research and experimentation, and that, in turn, should be integrated into a teaching program. I've been inspired by Burt's ability to do that seamlessly—it's something I aspired to achieve," Professor Zak said

During his undergraduate education, Professor Zak took an ecology course that required Barnes' book "Forest Ecology" and remembers thinking, "This is something I want to do." Professor Zak co-authored the latest edition of the text, which he uses in his class titled "Soil Ecology."

He teaches the course this semester, and spends two afternoons in the field teaching students. He recently received the highest award given by the Soil Science Society of America for work in soil biology and biochemistry, the Francis Clark Distinguished Lectureship; he will deliver the lecture Nov. 3, 2009, during the Society's annual meeting. He also received the 2006-07 Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award from SNRE students.

Professor Zak received his doctoral degree from Michigan State University in 1987, and completed a post-doc at the University of Minnesota. His work centers on understanding how composition is linked to function in soil microbial communities and how those links influence the flow of energy and cycling of elements in terrestrial ecosystems. There are thousands of microorganisms in any handful of soil that we know nothing about, he said. His research spans the gamut from molecular biology, working on gene transcription, to understanding how that can influence ecosystem processes. His work also investigates how ecological theory can be applied to microbial communities.

The professorship, which is for a five-year renewable term, is one of the highest honors the college and the university can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty.