Dr. Eric G. Strauss is Presidential Professor in Ecology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He is one of the founding science directors of the Urban Ecology Institute at Boston College, where he previously was Director of the Environmental Studies Program and Research Associate Professor. He received his undergraduate education at Emerson College and earned his Ph.D. from Tufts University. An active researcher, Professor Strauss has been an investigator on a number of groundbreaking collaborative studies, including a study of the conservation biology of piping plovers and studies of the eastern coyote and diamondback terrapin. He serves as the editor-in-chief for the journal Cities and the Environment and continues to research and participate in collaborative activities at the Urban Ecology Institute. In addition, Professor Strauss was lead author on a nationally successful biology textbook, Biology: The Web of Life, and hosted the accompanying video series, Biology Alive! Dr. Strauss also served on the Barnstable Conservation Commission and on the boards of directors for the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod.