Summary: The appearance of life put the Earth “under new management,” and life has continuously remodeled the atmosphere, oceans and land masses. The Earth’s climate and related life support systems are changing today in ways and at rates that are markedly different from those experienced in recorded human history. 21st century biology must provide the knowledge needed to adapt to these changes, and to recognize possible tipping points well in advance of the onset of environmental degradation, economic hardship, or pandemic disease. The future demands a trans-disciplinary approach to research and education that reaches beyond the science of traditional disciplines to prepare a new generation of scientists and educators to communicate science as a “precise, predictive and reliable” way of understanding life and adapting to a changing world. James P. Collins was appointed Assistant Director for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF) effective October 15, 2005. Collins is also currently Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Natural History and the Environment in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). Collins served as director of the Population Biology and Physiological Ecology program at the National Science Foundation from 1985 to 1986. Collins received his B.S. from Manhattan College in 1969 and his Ph.D. from The University of Michigan in 1975. Collins has delivered the Pettingill Lecture in Natural History at The University of Michigan Biological Station; the Thomas Hall Lecture at Washington University, St. Louis; the Irving S. Cooper Lecture at Mayo Clinic/Scottsdale; and was a Bonchek Fellow at Franklin and Marshall College. ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences awarded him the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2003 and the Gary Krahenbuhl Difference Maker award in 2005. Collins is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). He has served on the editorial board of Ecology and Ecological Monographs, as well as Evolution.
