Dr. James N. Galloway earned his BA from Whittier College in 1966 with a double major in Chemistry and Biology.  He was awarded his PhD from the University of California, San Diego in Chemistry in 1972 for his research on the fate of trace metals in a coastal ocean.  For two years he was a professional potter in Lexington, Virginia.  In 1974 he was appointed as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, and in 1976 joined the University of Virginia faculty as an Assistant Professor.

He is currently Sidman P. Poole Professor in Environmental Sciences, an interdisciplinary department whose purpose is to advance understanding of the environment through interdisciplinary scientific research and education.  His biogeochemical research includes investigations on the natural and anthropogenic controls on chemical cycles at the watershed, regional and global scales. He started first with trace metal biogeochemistry of the coastal ocean, and then expanded to investigations on the increased acidification of the atmosphere, soils and fresh waters.  His current research focuses on beneficial and detrimental effects of reactive nitrogen as it cascades between the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and freshwater and marine ecosystems.  His most recent work examines how to maximize the use of nitrogen for beneficial purposes (i.e., food production), while minimizing its negative impacts on people and ecosystems.  He is the author of over 200 scientific papers.

He is a member of the Boards for Trustees for the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA, and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.  In 2002 he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  In 2008 he received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (shared with Harold Mooney, Stanford) and was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. In 2020, he was elected to membership to the US National Academy of Sciences.

Jim and his wife Nancy, an artist, have two grown children – Joshua and Anna.