Mark Brown

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User Profile

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Name: Mark Brown
Member Since: February 13th, 2006
Member Name: Mark.brown
Biography:

I was raised in South Florida beginning my life in Miami and moving to Gainesville in 1967. Currently, I am an Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering Sciences.

For the past 26 years, since receiving my doctorate degree in 1980, I have been a research scientist with the University of Florida’s Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands, where I am Associate Program Director. During this time I have also been a member of the faculty in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, and Adjunct Associate Professor in Urban and Regional Planning. Recently I was appointed Director of the Center for Environmental Policy.

My research has centered on three areas that can be broadly described as natural resource management, including systems ecology, ecological engineering, ecological economics, environmental planning, environmental policy, and wetlands ecology. I have served as consultant on environmental issues to the EPA, USAID, Governments of Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and numerous private consulting firms world-wide. For six years I was consulting ecologist to The Cousteau Society working with their research teams to develop appropriate solutions to a wide array of resource management problems that affect marine resources throughout the world.

My current research includes projects to develop ecological indicators of wetland ecosystem health, development of indices of success for restored wetlands, restoration of drastically altered landscapes, and quantitative evaluation of natural capital and environmental services.

Most importantly, I am foremost a teacher. My students are the core of our program. I believe that graduate education is far more than taking classes and doing a research project…it is a dialog between student and professor, between student and student. Through this dialog, we learn and grow, and our understanding of the biosphere increases. Much of what I do and the advances we make in understanding how to better interface humanity and environment has come about because of this dialog and the hard work of my students. This student/teacher relationship is self-reinforcing, and the most rewarding part of this job.

E-mail: mtb@ufl.edu Mark T. Brown