A pioneer in the emerging field of ecological engineering, John Todd is the inaugural winner (2008) of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award for the "best idea to help save humanity."

John Todd, a pioneer in the emerging field of ecological engineering, with a specialty in food production and living systems for water purification, will lecture at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in Filene Recital Hall, located in Filene Hall.

Todd’s passion and work revolve around the broad field of planetary healing and regeneration. He has been active in shaping the field of ecological design for more than 40 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and an M.S. degree in parasitology at McGill University, and holds a Ph.D. in fisheries from University of Michigan. Todd is an emeritus research professor and distinguished lecturer at the University of Vermont, and a fellow at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.

He is founder and chairman of John Todd Ecological Design, Inc., and president of Ocean Arks International, an NGO dedicated to publishing and to healing the inshore oceans. He is based in Woods Hole, Mass. He was the co-founder of the New Alchemy Institute in 1969.

Todd has received a number of awards and honors, including the first Buckminster Fuller Challenge award for the best idea to help save humanity. His entry, recognized in 2008, was titled “Design for a Carbon Neutral World: The Challenge of Appalachia.” In 2006, he received the Global Visionary Award from the city of Chicago and in 1999, he was named a “Hero of the Planet” by Time magazine.

Todd and his wife Nancy are co-recipients of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bioneers (1999); they also received the Charles and Ann Morrow Award for technological innovation on behalf of the planet (1998).

Author of more than 200 hundred scientific, technical and popular articles, Todd is also the author or co-author of seven books. He is the inventor of Eco-Machines and the holder of a number of patents. Todd's visit to Skidmore was coordinated by students in the senior biology seminar class this semester.