Brian McGill receives top German research award
Professor Brian McGill was awarded the Humboldt Research Award, one of the most prestigious scientific honors in Germany. McGill holds a joint appointment in UMaine’s School of Biology & Ecology and the Mitchell Center.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awards the prize annually to internationally-renowned scientists who reside outside of Germany. In addition to the cash award of 60,000 euros, or about $71,000, Humboldt awardees are invited to conduct research in Germany. McGill plans to spend the fall of 2024 in the laboratory of Professor Jonathan Chase at iDiv, the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research.
“Understanding biodiversity and how human activity shapes it requires a global perspective. iDiv is one of the premier research centers in the world for these subjects. My past research visits, which usually lasted just one week, proved very productive,” McGill says.
“I am excited to be able to spend more time there, engaging in deeper and hopefully more creative research on how to reach a sustainable relationship between biodiversity and humans.”
A professor of biological sciences, McGill studies biodiversity at large scales of space and time across many species. His research aims to refine predictions about how species’ ranges and community structures respond to climate change and human activity.