The Rausser College of Natural Resources congratulates the following faculty members on their retirement this year. The College is deeply grateful for their outstanding contributions to the Berkeley community and wishes them the best in all future endeavors.
Gordon Frankie
Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Gordon Frankie’s research focuses on the behavioral ecology and community organization of solitary bee species in California and Costa Rica. During the past 21 years, the Frankie lab has documented bee diversity, seasonality, and host plant preferences at various sites in northern California and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, his work was foundational in understanding the floral behavior of dry forest plants, as well as bees’ plant preferences. He conducts comparative bee studies in both wildlands and urban landscapes, ran an experimental floral resource garden at the UC Berkeley Oxford Tract, and manages roughly 120,000 bee specimens that have been collected from field studies, which are currently being curated for deposit in the Berkeley Essig Museum of Entomology. He has surveyed gardens for native species in 15 California cities over a 15 year period, recording roughly 500 bee species in garden habitats—about 30 percent of all known bee species in California.
As honey bee populations decline nationwide, Frankie's research has implications for adapting the agricultural sector. In creating special pollinator habitat gardens, his work has demonstrated a method to supplement both native bees habitat and pollination services on croplands. His outreach and policy work has been extensive, in collaboration with numerous Bay Area schools, museums, and authors to develop public information on pollinators and their habitat. Frankie is first author of the field guide California Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, and he is co-author of two forthcoming books on the native bees of Costa Rican gardens and their blooms.
J. Keith Gilless
Dean Emeritus & Professor Emeritus of Forest Economics
J. Keith Gilless joined the Berkeley faculty as a professor of forest economics in 1983. A member of both the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, he served as Dean of the College from 2007 to 2018 and as the S.J. Hall Chair in Forest Economics from 1996 to 2006. His research covers many areas, including large urban-wildland conflagrations, simulation modeling of fire behavior, the effects of climate change on fire management, natural hazards impacts and planning, and forest harvesting. He serves as the Secretary of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, a member of the Board of Directors of the Faculty Club, a member of the Council of Friends of the Bancroft Library, and as Faculty Advisor for the undergraduate major in Ecosystems Management and Forestry. Off campus, Gilless is chair of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and served for two terms on the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Research Advisory Council. His accolades include the 2006 ESPM Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, the 1998 Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, and others. He is the co-author of two textbooks on forest resource management and economics.
Norman Terry
Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
Professor Norman Terry’s research career embraced the physiology and biochemistry of environmental stresses on plants, as associated with water, salinity, mineral nutrients, and toxic heavy metals. Since 1990, his studies focused on phytoremediation, the use of plants to clean up contaminated soil and water. Terry developed methods for using constructed wetlands to remove selenium and toxic heavy metals from agricultural and industrial wastewater and pioneered research into the development of genetically engineered plants for phytoremediation. Terry authored over 265 research publications, obtained three patents, and co-edited the book Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soil and Water, published by Lewis Publishers, New York. Terry taught Plant Biology 180, Environmental Plant Biology, and co-taught Plant Biology 135, Physiology and Biochemistry of Plants, along with other courses.
Patricia Zambryski
Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
Pat Zambryski joined Berkeley in 1986 as an associate professor of the Division of Molecular Plant Biology, which was soon incorporated into the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology (PMB). Her laboratory conducts research in microbial biology and plant biology. Her research in microbial biology investigates the molecular mechanisms utilized by Agrobacterium that lead to the genetic transformation of plant cells, focusing on the transference of DNA out of bacterial cells and into plant cells. In plant biology, she uses genetics and cell biology to investigate how plant cells communicate via plant specific intercellular structures called plasmodesmata. Zambryski has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including election as an AAAS Fellow in 2010, International Francqui Chair at the University of Gent, Belgium, in 2009, the Miller Research Professorship in 2004, Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology in 2001, and elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. Deeply invested in PMB graduate students, she was the department's Head Graduate Student Advisor from 1996 to 2018. Zambryski also developed a class for non-science majors called “The Secret Life of Plants” in 1996, which has grown exceedingly popular and is now required for majors in the College. While Zambryski officially retires this month, she will continue to teach the class for the next several spring semesters.