Mary Catherine Scholes a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, is currently a full professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences and holds a Research Chair in Applied Systems Analysis at Wits. Her research activities focus on soil fertility, food security, and biogeochemistry in savannas, plantation forests, and croplands. Her research funds are mostly sourced from industry and the government and she is currently actively involved in monitoring the impacts, on human health and the environment, of the new power stations in the Waterberg. She chairs the advisory boards of the Max Planck Institute for Atmospheric Chemistry and the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. She is also a member of the jury for the Volvo Environment Prize. These activities involve extensive collaborative research with a number of overseas and local institutes. Her publication record is extensive; she has mentored over 70 postgraduate students and she teaches at the postgraduate level at the University. She has been awarded the Vice-Chancellors Teaching, Research, and Academic Citizen awards. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and of the South African Academy of Science. She is the recipient of a number of national and international awards including being elected as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. She has served on Senate at Wits for over 25 years and has served on Council for two terms. She is married to Bob Scholes, a systems ecologist, and they have a wonderful son.
