‘Give Them Good Advice’

By Beth McMurtrie

Courtesy of Robert Paine

The ecologist Robert Paine (far right), now retired from the U. of Washington, advised graduate students on setting up an experiment on an island off the coast of British Columbia in 2012.

If you want to understand Robert T. Paine’s influence on the field of ecology, check out the one-word headline that led off a recent profile of him in the magazine Nature: “Dynasty.”

His scholarly impact is as much a product of his personality as of his ideas. Mr. Paine, now retired from the University of Washington, is charismatic, engaging, honest, and fun, say his former students. He also likes to be challenged. That has been a magnetic combination for ambitious young researchers.

James A. Estes, a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, recalls meeting Mr. Paine in the Aleutian Islands while he was doing work as a doctoral student in the early 1970s. Mr. Paine’s research focused on ecological disruptors like the Pacific coast’s predatory sea star—species that can single-handedly change an ecosystem.

The physically imposing ecologist enthusiastically sat down with the young graduate student to discuss ideas. “He had a perspective on science that influenced my entire life,” recalls Mr. Estes. “I see other people around who are perhaps of comparable stature in terms of scientific accomplishments, but nowhere near the same impact as a mentor.”

Mr. Paine is modest about his style of mentoring students. “They’re smart and hardworking and independent on their own. All I do is play on those traits and give them good advice.” But he also acknowledges that it takes a lot of work: keeping in touch with people, making connections among scholars, sitting on panels, reviewing articles.

Like other “super mentors,” Mr. Paine may play down his impact as a mentor, but he is confident in his own achievements. That, say his supporters, has enabled him to encourage others to forge their own paths, even if it meant some might challenge his theories.

“He did his work and wasn’t interested in your helping him or doing part of his work,” says Timothy Wootton, an ecologist at the University of Chicago. “He wanted you to do things you could call your own.”

Mr. Paine could be intense, recalls Mr. Wootton—quizzing students on what they’d observed, asking for different interpretations of what it meant, challenging them. “You were treated as a junior colleague rather than as a subordinate,” says Mr. Wootton, who had his share of intellectual battles with Mr. Paine as he pushed the field in new directions. Still, he says, “I didn’t feel pressure to conform.”

Mr. Paine’s suggestion for finding a good mentor? “Easy. Talk to other graduate students and find out how approachable this particular person is.”

“Don’t listen to the faculty propaganda.”