Thomas N. Taylor

Biography

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. 

March 2011