C. Robertson McClung

Patricia F. and William B. Hale 1944 Professor in the Arts and Sciences

Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1986

C.Robertson.McClung@dartmouth.edu

Education

1972-76 B.Sc. (Honours, Biology), Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Advisor: J.M. Bristow.
Thesis: Bacterial N₂ Fixation in the Phyllosphere of Freshwater Macrophytes.
1977-80 M.Sc. in Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
Advisor: D.G. Patriquin.
Thesis: The Effect of Environmental Factors on Nitrogenase Activity and Root Colonization by Diazotrophic Bacteria in Non-nodulating Angiosperms.
1981-86 Ph.D. in Microbiology, DOE Plant Research Lab and Department of Microbiology and Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Advisor: Barry K. Chelm.
Dissertation: Formate-Dependent Growth of Bradyrhizobium japonicum.

Professional and Scholarly Experience

1974 Research Assistant, Fisheries and Marine Service, Arctic Biological Station, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Canada.
1975 Research Assistant, National Research Council, Atlantic Regional Laboratory, Halifax, Canada.
1976 Research Assistant, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
1980-81 Research Coadjunctant, Plant Virology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD.
1986-88 Postdoctoral Fellow. Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH. Advisor: Jay C. Dunlap.
1988-94 Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College
1994-01 Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College.
2001- Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College.
1997-00 American Society of Plant Physiologists Committee on the Status of Women in Plant Physiology
2002-07 American Society of Plant Biologists Publications Committee
2003- American Society of Plant Biologists Executive Committee
2003-08- North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee
2004-09 Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Sciences, Dartmouth College
2004- Member, Faculty of 1000
2004-07 Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center Advisory Committee
2006-07 American Society of Plant Biologists: President-Elect
2007-08 American Society of Plant Biologists: President
2007- Editorial Board, The Arabidopsis Book, American Society of Plant Biologists
2008-09 American Society of Plant Biologists: Past-President
2009- Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists
2010- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Professional Biography

C. Robertson McClung is the Patricia F. and William B. Hale 1944 Professor in the Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College, where he is a member of the Department of Biological Sciences. He earned his B.Sc. in biology at Queen's University in 1976 and his M.Sc. in biology from Dalhousie University in 1979. His Ph.D. (1986) is from Michigan State University where he studied the symbiosis between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and soybeans. This interaction allows the plants to grow in the absence of nitrogenous fertilizer and is of considerable agronomic significance, especially in the developing world. McClung came to Dartmouth in 1986 to conduct postdoctoral research in the Biochemistry Department of Dartmouth Medical School. There he began to study circadian rhythms in the model fungus, Neurospora crassa, using a combination of genetic and molecular biological techniques. In 1988 he took a faculty position in the Department of Biological Sciences, where he has moved through the ranks, becoming full professor in 2001. From 2004 through 2009 he served as Associate Dean for the Sciences. His research continues to focus on the basis of endogenous biological clocks, now emphasizing the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. His teaching has focused on genetics and molecular biology and he has taught both introductory genetics to first year students and senior seminars based on the primary literature.

The biological clock provides a fascinating challenge. How does an organism endogenously measure time and use that information to coordinate its physiology and behavior with the externally imposed cycle of day and night? The clock coordinates many aspects of biology, including basic metabolism and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Additionally, environmental cues and the circadian clock contribute to the decision to reproduce. Proper coordination of the endogenous timing mechanism with the external day confers adaptive advantage, and impaired circadian function is associated with reduced fitness. The model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, offers a powerful and experimentally tractable system in which to investigate the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythmicity. Because plants are closely related, it is quite likely that understanding derived from Arabidopsis studies will be readily transferred to agronomically important species. In the context of climate change and the need to exploit increasingly marginal habitats, fuller understanding of clock mechanism may offer strategies to improve crop productivity. He has recently been awarded granta from the National Science Foundation to expand his research into the crop plant, Brassica rapa.

McClung has published more than 75 articles and his work is funded by major grants from the National Science Foundation. In his lab at Dartmouth he has trained over 83 undergraduates, 16 of whom have completed honors theses with him. In addition, he has served on the thesis committees of an additional 70 students. Six students have completed their Ph.D. studies with him. At Dartmouth he has served on and chaired numerous councils and committees, including the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Committee, which administers the largest graduate program at Dartmouth. He has served on numerous competitive grant panels for the NSF, NIH and USDA. From 2003-6 he served as the chair of the Publications Committee of the American Society of Plant Biologists, which publishes two of the three top journals in plant biology in the world. He was elected president of that society from 2007-8, serving the year before and the year after as president-elect and then as immediate past president. In 2009 he was elected as a Fellow of that Society. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also has served on the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee and on the Arabidopsis Biological Resources Center Advisory Board.

updated November 7, 2011