Christopher Vaughan '71, Doctor of Science

Christopher Vaughan ’71 received an honorary Doctor of Science at Grinnell College Commencement 2006.

During almost 30 years, Vaughan has worked as an administrator, consultant, professor, thesis advisor, and field researcher in environmental studies, behavior, and ecology in Costa Rica. He was cofounder and director of Latin America's first Wildlife Management graduate program; director and organizer of the inaugural year of the Costa Rican Center for Sustainable Development; and science coordinator of the Costa Rica Field Studies program for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest as well as coordinator of a neotropical tropical wildlife project and coordinator of the Biodiversity section of the Costa Rican government First National Strategy for Sustainable Development. Presently he is coordinator of the Chocolate Biodiversity and Productivity Project (Milwaukee Public Museum-University of Wisconsin-USDA) and co-editor of the international scientific journal, Vida Silvestre Neotropical.

As a university professor, he taught courses in the natural resources field and co-directed undergraduate and graduate courses in tropical field/wildlife ecology and wildlands management. He has authored or coauthored almost 100 scientific papers and seven books and has presented over 50 papers in international symposia and congresses. Dr. Vaughan is presently adjunct professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.