Team : David E. Blockstein, Ph.D.

Education Advisory Council Member

David E. Blockstein, Ph.D. David E. Blockstein is a Senior Scientist with the National Council for Science and the Environment, a nonpartisan organization of scientists, environmentalists, business people, and policymakers working to improve the scientific basis of environmental decisionmaking. He joined the organization in 1990 and was its first Executive Director. Presently, he organizes NCSE’s annual National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment and serves as Executive Secretary of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. Dr. Blockstein has worked on a wide range of policy issues, including increasing the representation of minorities in science, mechanisms to improve the linkage between science and decisionmaking on environmental issues, and electronic processes to communicate scientific information on the environment. As the 1987-88 Congressional Science Fellow of the American Institute of Biological Sciences and American Society of Zoology, he worked with the House of Representatives Environment Subcommittee of the Science Committee to prepare the National Biological Diversity Conservation and Environmental Research Act. Dr. Blockstein has conducted research on conservation of tropical pigeons and doves and is the author of the Birds of North America account of the extinct Passenger Pigeon. He serves on numerous committees for scientific and conservation organizations and is the founding chair of the Ornithological Council. Dr. Blockstein holds a B.S. in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin and a M.S. and Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Minnesota.