David Blockstein

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Name: David Blockstein, Ph.D.
Member Since: September 16th, 2009
Member Name: David.blockstein
Last Logged In: June 6th, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Biography:

David E. Blockstein is a Senior Scientist with the National Council for Science and the Environment, a nonpartisan organization of scientists, environmentalists, business people, and policymakers working to improve the scientific basis of environmental decisionmaking.

Dr. Blockstein joined the organization in 1990 and was its first Executive Director. Presently, he organizes NCSE's annual National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment. Dr. Blockstein also serves as Executive Secretary of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD). CEDD, formed in 2001, is the professional organization for the nation's deans of colleges of environment and natural resources and directors of institutes for environmental studies

As the 1987-88 Congressional Science Fellow of the American Institute of Biological Sciences and American Society of Zoology, Dr. Blockstein worked with the House of Representatives Environment Subcommittee of the Science Committee to prepare the National Biological Diversity Conservation and Environmental Research Act.

Dr. Blockstein has a B.S. in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin and a M.S. and Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Minnesota. He has conducted research on conservation of tropical pigeons and doves and on population and community ecology of forest birds. He is the author of the Birds of North America account of the extinct Passenger Pigeon.

Dr. Blockstein is the founding chair of the Ornithological Council, an association of North America's professional societies that provide scientific information about birds to policymakers and represents the interests of ornithologists in Washington, DC.

Dr. Blockstein has worked on a wide range of policy issues including increasing the representation of minorities in science, mechanisms to improve the linkage between science and decisionmaking on environmental issues and electronic processes to communicate scientific information on the environment. He has delivered more than 50 public lectures and more than 20 scientific papers and is a frequent contributor to both technical and popular literature about science and environmental policy.

He serves on or has served on committees for scientific and conservation organizations including: American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Institute of Biological Sciences; American Chemical Society; American Society of Zoologists; Society for Conservation Biology; American Ornithologists' Union; Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters; University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences; American Bird Conservancy; World Conservation Union (IUCN); Commission on Education and Communication; Project Learning Tree/World Wildlife Fund; Aldo Leopold Foundation; National Foundation for Environmental Education; and the Environmental Education Coalition.

Dr. Blockstein's publications include:

  • How to Lose Your Political Virginity while Keeping Your Scientific Credibility. BioScience. v.52 n.1 January 2002 pp.91-96
  • Passenger Pigeons, Lyme Disease,and Us: The Unintended Consequences of the Death of a Species. Birding. August 2001 pp.302-305
  • Extinct Birds Review . Birding. December 2001 pp.707-715
  • Environmental Science and Engineering: The View from the Nation's Capital
  • Keynote at the National Conference on Science and Technology. September 9, 2002.

E-mail: David@NCSEonline.org

Phone: 202-207-0004