Whendee Silver thinks that everybody, no matter where they are, needs to go for longevity the best they can. As a Professor of Environmental Science at UC Berkeley, Silver's research interests are in the field of ecosystem ecology and the relationships among nutrient cycling, land-use, and biodiversity. Currently her lab group is working on themes linking climate and plant community characteristics in tropical forests.

Silver earned her Ph.D. in Ecosystem Ecology from Yale University in 1992 and her M.S. in Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1987.