2018 Distinguished Landscape Practitioner Award
James “Jim” Wickham
James “Jim” Wickham will be one of two recipients of the 2018 Distinguished Landscape Practitioner Award by the United States Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). This honor is bestowed to individuals who have made outstanding contributions over a period of years to the application of the principles of landscape ecology to real-world problems. Dr. Wickham will receive the award, along with Dr. Sam Cushman, of the US Forest Service at the US-IALE meeting in Chicago, IL, in April 2018.
Dr. Wickham is Senior Research Scientist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency he has been with since the 1990s. Within the EPA, he has led an interagency consortium that produces national land cover mapping. His nominator, Dr. Kurt Riitters points out the Dr. Wickham brought a landscape ecology perspective to this consortium which has previously been more strictly focused on remote sensing. He led the agency and consortium to view the project as a database of spatial products rather than a series of one-off land cover maps, which has been a major reason why these products have been so useful to landscape ecologists across the United States.
In addition to his work on accuracy assessment of landcover maps, Dr. Wickham brought a landscape ecology perspective to other EPA initiatives, including work on mountaintop mining, evaluation of the status of drinking water watersheds, and ecological restoration.
His nominator, Dr. Kurt Riitters notes that another supporter asserts that “Jim is the guy who makes everyone else looks good.” It has been noted that Dr. Wickham is a generous mentor who often turns around and gives his mentees and colleagues credit for work that would not have happened without him. Dr. Riitters outlines that one of Dr. Wickham’s strengths is that “(h)e can be counted on to see things in ways that nobody else can see; to make connections that no one else thought were there.” Dr. Wickham has also been a hard working member of the editorial board of the journal Landscape Ecology; an unglamorous, low-profile, but highly important role within the discipline. During his tenure he has handled 221 manuscripts (and has declined to handle only 2). His average time to assign reviewers is around 5 days, and his average time to make decisions is around 10 days.
For more information about Dr. James “Jim” Wickham, please visit https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/wickham_james_sed.pdf.
James “Jim” Wickham will be one of two recipients of the 2018 Distinguished Landscape Practitioner Award by the United States Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). This honor is bestowed to individuals who have made outstanding contributions over a period of years to the application of the principles of landscape ecology to real-world problems. Dr. Wickham will receive the award, along with Dr. Sam Cushman, of the US Forest Service at the US-IALE meeting in Chicago, IL, in April 2018.
Dr. Wickham is Senior Research Scientist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency he has been with since the 1990s. Within the EPA, he has led an interagency consortium that produces national land cover mapping. His nominator, Dr. Kurt Riitters points out the Dr. Wickham brought a landscape ecology perspective to this consortium which has previously been more strictly focused on remote sensing. He led the agency and consortium to view the project as a database of spatial products rather than a series of one-off land cover maps, which has been a major reason why these products have been so useful to landscape ecologists across the United States.
In addition to his work on accuracy assessment of landcover maps, Dr. Wickham brought a landscape ecology perspective to other EPA initiatives, including work on mountaintop mining, evaluation of the status of drinking water watersheds, and ecological restoration.
His nominator, Dr. Kurt Riitters notes that another supporter asserts that “Jim is the guy who makes everyone else looks good.” It has been noted that Dr. Wickham is a generous mentor who often turns around and gives his mentees and colleagues credit for work that would not have happened without him. Dr. Riitters outlines that one of Dr. Wickham’s strengths is that “(h)e can be counted on to see things in ways that nobody else can see; to make connections that no one else thought were there.” Dr. Wickham has also been a hard working member of the editorial board of the journal Landscape Ecology; an unglamorous, low-profile, but highly important role within the discipline. During his tenure he has handled 221 manuscripts (and has declined to handle only 2). His average time to assign reviewers is around 5 days, and his average time to make decisions is around 10 days.
For more information about Dr. James “Jim” Wickham, please visit https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/wickham_james_sed.pdf.
