UT Austin Scientist Wins Eminent Ecologist Award

The world's largest society of professional ecologists will recognize Eric Pianka with its top award for achievement in the field. 

The Ecological Society of America will hold its 100th annual meeting in August and present Pianka with its Eminent Ecologist Award.

A professor in the Department of Integrative Biology since 1968, Pianka is the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a distinguished scientist in the Texas Academy of Science. His specialty, the evolutionary ecology of lizards, led to his being featured in a PBS "NOVA" documentary called "Lizard Kings."

According to the Ecological Society of America:

The Eminent Ecologist Award is given to a senior ecologist in recognition of an outstanding body of ecological work or sustained ecological contributions of extraordinary merit. During his 50-year academic career, Pianka… published nearly 200 scientific papers, several of which became "Citation Classics." His textbook "Evolutionary Ecology," first published in 1974, went through six editions and has been translated into multiple languages. Pianka's key and durable contributions to empirical ecology encompass wide‐ranging studies of lizard community ecology across many continents and the discovery of many new lizard species. … All of his conceptual contributions are grounded in a thorough understanding of natural history with a deep love of the natural world. His work has influenced many individuals, both inside the ecological profession and beyond.