Gates was born in
Chicago, graduating in 1910 with an A.B. from the
University of Illinois and in 1912 with a Ph.D. from the
University of Michigan, where he was strongly influenced by
Henry A. Gleason. Gates's dissertation
Winter as a factor in the xerophily of certain evergreen plants was supervised by
Frederick Charles Newcombe. From 1916 to 1919 he was a professor at
Carthage College. During WW I, he was in 1918 a 2nd lieutenant in the
U.S. Army Sanitary Corps. At Kansas State Agricultural College (now named
Kansas State University), Gates was from 1919 to 1922 an assistant professor, from 1922 to 1928 an associate professor, and from 1928 until his death in 1955 a full professor. From 1915 to 1954 he taught during the summers at the
University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), located on the south shore of
Douglas Lake in
Cheboygan County, Michigan. In 1941 he was the president of the
Kansas Academy of Science. ==Selected publications==