William H. Schlesinger, Ph.D., is the James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry, and Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University.

Schlesinger joined the faculty at Duke in 1980 and is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific papers and the widely adopted textbook Biogeochemistry: An analysis of global change (Academic Press, 2nd ed. 1997). He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995 and of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. He was a member of the National Research Council's 2002-2003 Committee to Review the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan.

Currently, Schlesinger focuses his research on global change ecology. He is the co-principal investigator for the Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) Experiment in the Duke Forest -- a project that aims to understand how an entire forest ecosystem (vegetation and soils) will respond to growth in elevated CO2. He has worked extensively in desert ecosystems and measured their response to global change, which often lead to the degradation of soils and regional desertification. From 1991 to 2000, he served as Principal Investigator for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) in southern New Mexico. His work has taken him to diverse habitats ranging from Okefenokee Swamp to the Mojave Desert. His research has been featured on NOVA, CNN, NPR, and in Discover, National Geographic, The New York Times, and Scientific American.

Schlesinger testified before U.S. House and Senate Committees on environmental issues, including preservation of desert habitats and climate change. Schlesinger is the President of the Ecological Society of America for 2003-2004.

Schlesinger earned an A.B. from Dartmouth in 1972 and a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1976.