Bernard Patten

Founder, BOD Chair, & CEO

Bernard C. Patten is Emeritus Regents' Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia, USA. He is a systems ecologist and ecological modeler, interested in the application of mathematical system theory to ecosystems. He and his colleagues have formulated a system theory of environment that pioneers the use of network mathematics to analyze ecosystem networks such as food webs and biogeochemical cycles. His publications include ten books and about 220 refereed papers on ecological topics spanning marine, freshwater and wetland ecosystems. He has graduated 28 Ph.D and three M.A. or M.S. students, and mentored seven postdoctoral scholars. He was Principal Investigator of an NSF-sponsored study of Okefenokee Swamp (1975–86), a member of the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (1978–88), and chair of SCOPE/ICSU’s (Paris) Scientific Advisory Committee on Wetlands, which produced a two-volume review of the world's wetlands. He was president of the International Society for Ecological Modelling–North America (1982-90), and he founded and led Ecology Simulations, Inc. (now inactive), and the present TSS, Inc. nonprofit. He has lectured and conducted short courses nationally and internationally, been a distinguished visiting professor, served on the editorial boards of several respected scientific journals, and was awarded the Prigogine Medal of Siena University and Wessex Institute of Technology (2006).