David Vasseur, a professor and chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed the next head of Saybrook College, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis announced in a message to the community today.
He will succeed Thomas Near, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who has been the head of Saybrook since 2015.
College heads serve as the chief administrative officer and presiding faculty member within the residential colleges, and help nurture the social, cultural, and educational life there, a role that has become a cherished Yale tradition.
In his research, Vasseur addresses foundational questions in ecology and evolutionary biology by examining how variation shapes the dynamics, persistence, and coexistence of species, Lewis wrote. Much as classical physics is grounded in theories governing mechanics and thermodynamics, ecology and evolutionary biology are guided by mathematical theory describing how biological systems change across scales - from individual organisms to entire ecosystems. Vasseur's work seeks to understand how environmental variability, and variation among individuals and species, alters long-standing ecological paradigms.
He will begin a five-year term at Saybrook College on July 1.
