Chair, NEON, Inc. Board of Directors: Dr. James MacMahon

James A. MacMahon was an author of the original NEON proposal to NSF and currently serves as Chairman of the NEON Inc. Board of Directors. Jim, a biology professor at Utah State University since 1971 and former head of the biology department, was named Dean of the College of Science in 1989 and Director of the Ecology Center in 2004. His research focus encompasses plant and animal community ecology, structure and function of deserts and coniferous forests, and the physiological ecology of lower vertebrates and spiders. His other interests include conservation biology of terrestrial vertebrates and studies of alternative future scenarios for land use change in Utah and Nevada using ecological theory as a basis for predicting the future.