Stephen Joseph Pyne

Professor Stephen J. Pyne is the Regents Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. His research focuses on environmental history, history of exploration, and history of life. He has written, especially, about the history, ecology, and management of fire, particularly its interaction with humans. His studies include surveys for America, Australia, Europe, and the Earth overall. Other interests extend to exploration history and the cultural meaning of places, best exemplified by studies of the Grand Canyon and Antarctica. Present research continues on these themes. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Texas, Professor Pyne taught history at the University of Iowa and eventually Arizona State starting in 1986. He has spent fifteen seasons as a wildland firefighter at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park between 1967 and 1981. His accomplishments include the B. Benjamin Zucker Environmental Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, ASU West Award of Achievement in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, ASU Alumni Award for Research, Robert Kirsch Award, Theodore Blegen Award, and Distinguished Faculty Award. Some of his notable books include Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire and The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica.