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Biology Professor Thomas Smith Named Acting Director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment
Thomas Smith, a conservation biologist and ecologist who has developed new theories on how species of birds and other animals evolve in rainforests, has been named acting director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment.
Smith, a professor in the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and founder and director of UCLA’s Center for Tropical Research, will lead the institute while a nationwide search is conducted for a permanent director. The previous director, Mary Nichols, was appointed chair of the California Air Resources Board last month by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.“Professor Smith is a renowned scholar who has studied and taught for more than 20 years about environmental issues in rainforests around the world,” said Patricia O’Brien, executive dean of the UCLA College of Letters and Science.
O’Brien said Smith’s research is “revolutionary work that combines molecular genetics and field biology and provides essential information on how to protect these ecosystems.”
A member of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Smith is a consultant to many conservation organizations and has helped implement conservation programs and establish new parks in tropical countries. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the National Geographic Society, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Institutes of Health, and the Turner Foundation.
Smith was a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar, and is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the American Ornithologists’ Union, and the Zoological Society of London.
“I am pleased and honored to serve as acting director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment, which is playing an increasingly important role in building the university’s research and teaching programs on environmental issues,” Smith said.
The Institute of the Environment generates knowledge about regional and global environmental problems to educate the next generation of professional leadership committed to the health of our planet.
The institute is best known for its annual Southern California Environmental Report Card, which draws on the expertise of faculty in various disciplines across campus to analyze issues of environmental concern and grade the performance of government agencies and others in protecting natural resources and public health. For more information, visit www.ioe.ucla.edu/index.html.
