Dr. Fred Benfield

FACULTY AFFILIATE   |   Global Change Center

Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences

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benfield@vt.edu  •   (540) 231-5802

Dr. Fred Benfield is Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences. A member of the university community since 1971, Benfield contributed to research on the responses of stream systems to current and historical land-use change as reflected by ecosystem-level processes and biodiversity. His scholarship also spanned pollution ecology, aquatic insect toxicology, distribution and abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates, and arthropod defensive behavior.

Benfield authored and co-authored approximately 100 publications and presented many papers at national and international scientific meetings. He has served as president of the Society for Freshwater Science, and in 2012, he received that society’s Distinguished Service Award for his many contributions.

He also served as the associate head of the Department of Biological Sciences for 17 years.

In the classroom, Benfield taught a variety of courses ranging from large sections of freshman biology to advanced graduate courses. He advised numerous graduate students during his career, serving as the graduate advisor for 16 master’s degree and 16 doctoral degree students. He also advised many undergraduate students and helped them develop successful careers after graduation.

Benfield received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in biology from Appalachian State University in, respectively, 1964 and 1965, and a Ph.D. in zoology from Virginia Tech in 1970.