Aaron M. Ellison

Aaron Ellison is an ecologist, photographer, sculptor, and writer. He retired in July 2021 after 20 years as the Senior Research Fellow in Ecology at Harvard University; from 2018 - 2021, he also served as the Deputy Director of the Harvard Forest. He has authored or co-authored over 250 scientific papers, dozens of book reviews and software reviews, and nine books, including the best-selling A Primer of Ecological Statistics (2004; 2nd edition 2012) and the award-winning A Field Guide to the Ants of New England (2012). His most recent books are Scaling in Ecology with a Model System (2021), Success in Navigating Your Student Research Experience: Moving Forward in STEMM (2022), and Success in Mentoring your Student Researchers: Moving STEMM Forward (2022). Aaron is an elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and a certified Senior Ecologist. Following his retirement from Harvard, Aaron has continued his research in three areas: the intellectual history of ecology and its relationship to Romanticism and Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; qualitative and quantitative differences between diversity and heterogeneity in food webs and human social networks; and effects of historical and ongoing climatic change on plant phenology across North America. He also maintains an art studio dedicated to woodworking, photography, and poetry within the Artisan's Asylum in Allston/Brighton (Massachusetts). In 2019, Aaron co-founded Sound Solutions for Sustainable Science LLC, a consulting firm focused on supporting learners from all backgrounds and walks of life in scientific research and education. When not travelling, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts.