Brian Silliman is the Rachel Carson Distinguished Professor of Marine Conservation Biology. He holds both B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Virginia, and completed his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University. In recognition of his research achievements, Silliman was named a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America in 2023, Distinguished Fulbright Chair with CSIRO in 2019; a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences in 2015; a Visiting Professor with the Royal Netherlands Society of Arts and Sciences in 2011; and David H. Smith Conservation Fellow with The Nature Conservancy in 2004.  He has also received several awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists (2006), a Young Investigator Grant Award from the Andrew Mellon Foundation (2007), and a NSF Career Grant Award (2011). Dr. Silliman has published 25 book chapters and over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, and co-edited five books: Marine Community Ecology and Conservation, Marine Ecosystem Restoration: Challenges and New Horizons, Human Impacts on Salt Marshes: A Global Perspective, Effective Conservation: Data not Dogma, and Marine Disease Ecology. His teaching and research are focused on community ecology, food webs, conservation and restoration, global change, and evolution and ecological consequences of cooperative behavior.