A UT professor who is one of the world’s leading experts on invasive species has received a top award from the Southeastern Conference.
Daniel Simberloff was honored with the 2014 SEC Faculty Achievement Award, the SEC announced Wednesday. He is the Gore-Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors to be bestowed upon an American scientist. He is the third in UT history to receive the National Academy of Sciences honor.
The SEC award recognizes professors from Southeastern Conference schools with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship. Honorees from each university receive a $5,000 honorarium and become their university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award, to be recognized at the SEC spring meetings in May and SEC Symposium in September.
“These fourteen professors positively represent the breadth and depth of education in the Southeastern Conference, and I want to congratulate each of them,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said. “The commitment to their students, universities, and communities is truly commendable.”
Simberloff founded and directs the UT Institute for Biological Invasions, and he recently edited the Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions, an 800-page tome that documents invasions worldwide. His body of work includes more than 500 peer-reviewed papers as well as popular articles and book reviews
His work, frequently cited in textbooks, is studied by most undergraduate ecology students. He is a groundbreaking ecologist who once contradicted his own highly acclaimed theory based on new evidence, thereby strengthening the ecology field.
—
CONTACT:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)