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Dr. Thomas N. Taylor
Botany
B.A., Miami University, 1960
Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1964 |
Thomas N. Taylor was born in Lakewood, Ohio and completed his undergraduate work at Miami
University (Oxford, Ohio) and was awarded a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Illinois. After
graduation, he was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Yale University in the
Department of Biology and Peabody Museum of Natural History. He has held faculty positions at the
University of Illinois, Ohio University and Ohio State University. He is currently The Roy A. Roberts
Distinguished Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Paleobotany in the
Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center at the University of Kansas. He also holds a
courtesy Professor appointment in the Department of Geology.
Taylor’s current research focuses on the biology and evolution of fossil plants and fungi. His
research group is presently studying Permian and Triassic biotas and the deep time paleoclimate of
Antarctica, early land plant/fungal interactions, the origin and evolution of reproductive systems in
early land plants, symbiotic systems through time and fossil microbes. He has edited five books, written
two text books and more than 360 research papers. His research has been continuously funded from the
National Science Foundation since 1965.
He is a member U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He has received several awards and honors,
including a Merit Award and Centennial Award from the Botanical Society of America, Birbal Sahni
Centenary Medal in Paleobotany, Service Award from the International Organization of Paleobotany, and
Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists. Taylor also received the Higuchi/Endowment
Achievement Award in the Basic Sciences in Kansas, and Distinguished Scholar Award from Ohio State
University. He has held numerous offices in professional associations including Program Director of the
Botanical Society of America, and President of the International Organization of Paleobotany. He has
served on several editorial boards including Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Modern Geology,
Symbiosis, The Palaeobotanist, Ameghiniana and Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology.
Taylor served as Chair of academic departments at Ohio State and the University of Kansas, and was
Project Director for the NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program in
Kansas. He has served on numerous boards, state and national committees including the National Research
Council (NRC) Polar Research Board, and is currently a member of the congressionally mandated NRC Gender
Differences in Careers of Science, Engineering and Mathematics Faculty Committee.
Taylor was appointed to the National Science Board in 2006.
October 2006
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