Nicholas School’s Stuart Pimm Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Wednesday, May 5, 2004/DURHAM, N.C. – Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Pimm, an expert on endangered species conservation, was one of 178 scientists, scholars, artists, statesmen and entrepreneurs elected as Fellows this year.

Founded in 1780, the academy conducts interdisciplinary studies on international security, social policy, education and the humanities. Its current membership includes 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. Past Fellows have included George Washington, Ben Franklin, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Albert Einstein.

Pimm is widely cited for his research on biodiversity, species extinction and habitat loss in Africa, South America, Central America and the Everglades. His work has contributed to new practices and policy for species preservation and habitat restoration in many of the world’s most threatened ecosystems.

Pimm was awarded a Pew Scholarship for Conservation and the Environment in 1993 and an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship in 1999. The Institute of Scientific Information recognized him in 2002 as being one of the world's most highly cited scientists.

Media contact: Tim Lucas, 919/613-8084 or tdlucas@duke.edu