About
Dr. Rick McCourt has been a botany curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University since 1996 and a professor in the Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES) Department since its founding at Drexel University in 2012.
Professor McCourt's research program targets the biodiversity, evolution, ecology, and systematics of green algae, specifically green algae that are among the closest living algal relatives of land plants. In addition, he curates the plant collection of the Lewis and Clark expedition and has written about the history of the botanical results from their journey. Rick's contributions are widely recognized; he is the author and co-author of over a hundred highly cited articles published in prominent, peer-reviewed scientific journals.
McCourt worked for six years at the National Science Foundation as a program director in the Divisions of Biological Science and Education and Human Resources. He also served as president and chair of the Board of Trustees for the Phycological Society of America and other environmental organizations. Before coming to Drexel, Rick was a faculty member at DePaul University in Chicago; he taught evolutionary biology and ecology courses and mentored graduate, undergraduate, and co-op students in his laboratory.
Rick writes for popular magazines such as Discover and Outside; he has also co-edited the book The New Science Journalists with Ted Anton, a professor of English at DePaul University.
Earlier in his career, Rick worked as a science journalist and reported on science, sports, and arts at National Public Radio. In 1985 he won the AAAS Westinghouse Award for Science Journalism in Radio for a series on aquaculture broadcast on NPR.