{{Short description|American aquatic ecologist (1943–2022)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Susan S. Kilham | image = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = 1943 | birth_place = | death_date = 2022 | death_place = Haddonfield, New Jersey<ref name=eckerd/> | fields = {{ubl|Aquatic ecology|Phycology|Ecological stoichiometry}} | alma_mater = {{ubl|Eckerd College|Duke University}} | workplaces = {{ubl|Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|University of Michigan|Drexel University}} | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = | awards = {{ubl|Phycological Society of America Career Achievement Award}} }} '''Susan Soltau Kilham''' (1943–2022) was an American aquatic ecologist. She made notable contributions to phycology and to ecological stoichiometry, and much of her research focused on diatoms. Kilham has also been described as a particularly prolific and impactful scientific mentor. She served on the faculty of the University of Michigan from the early 1970s until the early 1990s, and then moved to Drexel University, where she was a professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, as well as chairing that department and serving on the faculty senate. Kilham received the Phycological Society of America Career Achievement Award, and is the namesake of a professorship at the University of Michigan.
==Academic positions== Kilham was born in 1943.<ref name=thesis>{{cite book |url=https://find.library.duke.edu/catalog/DUKE000908963 |title=Deep sea bivalve molluscs: shell morphology, mineralogy and geochemistry |year=1971 |publisher=Duke University Libraries |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref> She attended Eckerd College (then the Florida Presbyterian College), graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 1965.<ref name=regents>{{cite web |url=https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/06-22/2022-06-IV-1.pdf |title=The University of Michigan Regents Communication |publisher=Regents of the University of Michigan |date=June 1, 2022 |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref> As an undergraduate at Eckerd she worked as a research assistant to George K. Reid, who had been a founding faculty member of the college.<ref name=eckerd>{{cite web |url=https://www.eckerd.edu/news/blog/career-mentor-marine-science-student/ |title=Career mentor leaves lasting impact on marine science student |publisher=Eckerd College |date=June 8, 2022 |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref>
Kilham graduated from Eckerd in 1965,<ref name=regents/> and then attended Duke University, where she earned a PhD in marine science in 1971.<ref name=regents/> Early in her career, Kilham's main research focus was deep-sea clams.<ref name=drexel17/> Her PhD dissertation was entitled ''Deep sea bivalve molluscs: shell morphology, mineralogy and geochemistry''.<ref name=thesis/>
After finishing her doctorate, Kilham worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and in 1973 joined the faculty at the University of Michigan.<ref name=regents/> In 1991 she moved to Drexel University where she became a professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science,<ref name=drexel17>{{cite web |url=https://drexel.edu/coas/news-events/news/2017/June/kilham-receives-career-achievement-award/ |title=Sue Kilham Receives Phycological Society of America Career Achievement Award |publisher=Drexel University |date=June 26, 2017 |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref> and she was affiliated with Drexel until she died in 2022.<ref name=regents/> She was at one point the Chair of the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, and she also served on the faculty senate.<ref name=drexel17/>
==Research and contributions== Kilham was noted for contributions to ecological stoichiometry, and the ecological stoichiometry newsletter ''Ratios Matter'' credited her specifically with "bringing resource ratio theory to the forefront of community ecology."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://ratiosmatter.org/issues/ratios-matter-july-2017.pdf |title=Award of Excellence Bestowed by the Phycological Society of America |work=Ratios Matter |date=July 2017 |access-date=July 23, 2022}}</ref> Kilham has been credited with an important idea to test certain ecological theories using algae, which made it possible to evaluate claims that could not feasibly be tested using the land organisms that were more usually used as test organisms in ecology.<ref name=regents/><ref name=drexel17/>
A report by the Regents of the University of Michigan described Kilham's most important contributions as including "the calcification of deep-sea clams, biological processes in African lakes, the importance of resource ratios in the growth and competition of algae in freshwater lakes, and the effects of climate change on diatoms in Yellowstone Lake."<ref name=regents/> They also credited her research with prompting a United States Environmental Protection Agency policy regarding the control of endocrine disruptors.<ref name=regents/>
Kilham collaborated with her husband, Peter Kilham, until his death in 1989.<ref name=peter>{{cite journal | last = Hecky | first = R. E. | date = 1990 | title = Peter Kilham 1943–1989 | journal = Diatom Research | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 209–212 | doi = 10.1080/0269249X.1990.9705109 }}</ref> The two had married in 1967, and Peter Kilham was also a professor at the University of Michigan, and studied related topics including diatoms.<ref name=peter/>
Kilham has been noted as a particularly prolific scientific mentor, especially of women in ecology: she served on more than 80 PhD dissertation committees, at least 45 masters thesis committees, and also supervised dozens of undergraduates.<ref name=eckerd/><ref name=regents/><ref name=drexel17/>
==Awards and legacy== In 2017, Kilham received the Phycological Society of America's Award of Excellence, which is a career achievement award.<ref name=drexel17/> She had given the plenary lecture at the organization's annual meeting in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.psaalgae.org/psa/2015/8/24/kilham-plenary-talk |title=Kilham Plenary Talk |publisher=Phycological Society of America |date=August 24, 2015 |access-date=23 July 2022}}</ref>
As of 2022, Kilham was the namesake of a scholarship at her alma mater, Eckerd College, called the Kilham Annual Scholarship for Natural Sciences.<ref name=eckerd/>
In June 2022, the C. A. Patrides Professorship at the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts was renamed to the Susan S. Kilham Collegiate Professorship in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.<ref name=regents/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilham, Susan S.}} Category:1943 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Eckerd College alumni Category:Duke University alumni Category:University of Michigan faculty Category:Drexel University faculty Category:American University faculty Category:American women academics Category:American ecologists Category:20th-century American biologists Category:21st-century American biologists Category:Women phycologists Category:American phycologists Category:21st-century American women biologists Category:20th-century American women biologists