Kamaljit Singh Bawa, FRS (born 7 April 1939 in Punjab, India) is an evolutionary ecologist,

conservation biologist Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...

and a distinguished professor of Biology at the

University of Massachusetts, Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massac ...

. He is also the founder o
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE)
In 2012, Bawa received the first Gunnerus Sustainability Award, the world's major international award for work on sustainability. He is an elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. He was elected a Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2019.

Academic career

Bawa received B.S., M.S., and PhD degrees from

Panjab University, Chandigarh Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

, India. After receiving his PhD in 1967, he came to the United States as a postdoctoral research associate and instructor at College of Forest Resources,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

. He received the Maria Moors Cabot and the Charles Bullard Research Fellowships at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1972 and worked as a research fellow at the Grey Herbarium, Harvard University from 1973 to 1974. In 1974, he joined the Department of Biology, at

as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1977 and to full professor in 1981 and became a distinguished professor in Biology in 1996 at the Department of Biology at

Accolades and institutional affiliations

Along with First Gunnerus Sustainability Award, Bawa is a recipient of the highest awards from the two main professional societies in his field. In 2003, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation bestowed on him its highest honour by electing him as an Honorary Fellow. The

Society for Conservation Biology The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is an 501(c)(3) non-profit international professional organization that is dedicated to conserving biodiversity. There are over 4,000 members worldwide, including students and those in related non-academ ...

awarded him its Distinguished Service Award in 2009. He also received P.N. Mehra Memorial Award in Botany in 2007. Bawa has been a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

from 1987 to 1988 as well as a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment from 1991 to 1996, a Giorgio Ruffolo Visiting Scholar in Sustainability Science in the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard's

Center for International Development The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, and a Bullard Fellow at the Harvard Forest in 1972, and again in 2009. He was an elected fellow for

The National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Norwegian Society of Letters and Sciences. He has served on NSF Advisory Panel on Conservation and Restoration Biology in 1991 and on population biology in 1993, 1994. He has also been a member of the Science Committee, DIVERSITAS-agrobiodiversity Group since 2006. He also serves on the advisory boards of Conabio, Natureserve, TEAM Program of Conservation International, William L. Brown Center of the

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million ...

. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of S M Sehgal Foundation, previously named the Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD), the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, and the Committee for Research and Exploration of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...

. He is the president of th
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE)
a non-governmental organisation devoted to research, policy analysis, and education in India, member of the governing boards of the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, and Village Forward. Bawa was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. In 2016 he was awarded the Jose

Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany Jose Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was initiated in 2001 by the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA. It is named after José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomi ...

Publications

Bawa is the author of more than 180 academic papers, author or editor of ten books, monographs or special issues of journals including ''Sahayadris: India’s Western Ghats – A Vanishing Heritage''. He is the editor-in-chief of '' Conservation and Society'', an interdisciplinary journal in conservation; associate editor of ''

Ecology and Society ''Ecology and Society'' (formerly ''Conservation Ecology'') is a quarterly open access interdisciplinary academic journal published by the Resilience Alliance. It covers an array of disciplines from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the ...

''; and academic editor of '' PLoS ONE''. He is a member of the editorial board of ''Journal of Sustainable Forestry''. He was an associate editor of ''Conservation Biology'' from 1987 to 1993. He served on the editorial board of ''Journal of Arnold Arboretum'' from 1986 to 1990, ''Journal of Tree Science'' from 1986 to 1991, and ''Evolutionary Trends in Plants'' from 1987 to 1992.

Books

* Himalaya: Mountains of Life

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bawa, Kamaljit S. 1939 births Indian ecologists Conservation biologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Living people Missouri Botanical Garden people Fellows of the Royal Society Indian emigrants to the United States Scientists from Punjab, India 20th-century Indian biologists Members of the American Philosophical Society University of Massachusetts Boston faculty