海角社区

Congratulations to Environmental Sciences Professor Edwards Laws on being named a 2025 海角社区 Distinguished Research Master

BATON ROUGE - Edward Laws, professor of  Environmental Sciences, is the recipient of one of 海角社区鈥檚 highest research honors 鈥� he has been named a Distinguished Research Master by the 海角社区 Office of Research.

鈥淐ongratulations to CC&E鈥檚 Distinguished Research Master, Ed Laws! Your career epitomizes the values of the Distinguished Research Master 鈥� a lifelong dedication to research and scholarship.  Your curiosity knows no bounds!鈥� said CC&E Dean Clint Willson. 鈥淔rom wetlands research to phytoplankton, to aquatic pollution and climate change, your work has made a deep impact on so many fields. This is an honor well-deserved indeed.鈥�

Laws attributes some of his success as a scientist to the help of mentors, colleagues and even students throughout his career.

"I have been very fortunate to have had some excellent mentors during the time when I was just getting started in science. My advisor as a graduate student, William Lipscomb, was an outstanding scientist, but he also took teaching very seriously. He prepared every lecture meticulously, and nobody went in his office during the hour before one of his lectures," said Laws. "I benefitted greatly from team teaching an introduction to oceanography course at Florida State University with Jack Winchester, who had an incredible knack for engaging students in classroom discussions. When I got started in oceanography at the University of Hawaii, I worked in the laboratory of John Caperon, who was a great thinker and loved to participate in a debate on almost any topic. And throughout my career I have been blessed with excellent graduate students."

An Accidental Oceanographer

Laws is the definition of a pure scientist, an 鈥渁ccidental oceanographer,鈥� as Professor David M Karl put it. Karl, who is with the University of Hawaii鈥檚 Center for Microbial Oceanography, wrote a letter in support of Laws鈥� nomination.

Laws received his doctorate in Chemical Physics from Harvard University, and in fact, his research helped his major professor, William Lipscomb, earn a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. After that, however, Karl notes, 鈥渁 miracle occurred. Ed Laws decided to turn his research interests to the study of marine phytoplankton and the environmental controls of primary production in the sea.鈥�

The resulting body of research, Karl said, 鈥渁ltered the way we think about biogeochemical cycles in the sea.鈥�

Laws is a leading authority on controls of the growth of marine algae, known for his work developing theoretical models to predict phytoplankton metabolism. He later expanded his research interests to include impacts of changing ocean environments on carbon sequestration in the sea. He has even extended to wetlands research, deploying his mathematical and analytical skills to assist Chinese colleagues.

Today, Laws has over 15,000 citations and over 240 scientific manuscripts published. A textbook he collaborated on, Aquatic Pollution, is in its fourth edition and has become seminal in the field. It has been translated into both Japanese and Chinese. As a result of these achievements, he was recently named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Teaching and Mentoring

In addition to his research, Laws is a familiar face to many students around 海角社区鈥檚 campus. He teaches the Introduction to Environmental Sciences classes, sometimes to nearly a thousand students at a time. He has served as a mentor to many graduate students over the years, and also has spent many years teaching math at prisons in Hawaii and Louisiana.

Laws said he enjoys teaching Environmental Science, and working with students. 鈥淓nvironmental science is a very interdisciplinary science, and a lot of it changes every year because of current events and things going on. But it鈥檚 fun to see students learn and get turned on by whatever you鈥檙e teaching.鈥�

Throughout his career, he has also received numerous awards for teaching and service, both in Hawaii and Louisiana, as well as from professional organizations. In 2018, he was given the Friendship Award from the Chinese government, the highest honor given to foreign citizens.