Levin chosen as member of Italian academic institute

Princeton ecologist Simon Levin, who has made major contributions in the areas of biological conservation and ecosystem management, has been selected as a foreign member of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, a venerable Italian academic institute.

Founded in 1810, the Venice-based academy brings together leading scholars from around the world with the aim of promoting "the advancement, dissemination and protection of the sciences, literature and arts."

Levin is Princeton's George Moffett Professor of Biology and a professor of ecology and environmental biology. He also is director of the University's Center for BioComplexity and former director of the Princeton Environmental Institute. He joined the Princeton faculty in 1992.

Levin's honors include the 2007 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the 2005 Kyoto Prize from the Inamori Foundation of Japan for contributions to environmental science and the 2004 A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.