Priyanga Amarasekare
Priyanga Amarasekare is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and distinguished Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). Her research is in the fields of mathematical biology and trophic ecology, with a focus on understanding patterns of biodiversity, species dispersal and the impacts of climate change. She received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship and received ESA's Robert H. Macarthur Award in 2022. Career. Amarasekare earned a Master of Science in Zoology from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 1991. Her thesis was titled "Potential impact of mammalian  nest predators on Mamane-Naio woodland birds of Mauna Kea, Hawaii". After her PhD, she worked at the University of Chicago. Amarasekare is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research focuses on biological and ecological mechanisms that maintain biological diversity in variable environments and how understanding of these dynamics can predict how patterns of diversity may change in variable environments. Her work is distinguished for its strong mechanistic focus combined with a tight integration between theory and data. She has been a leading figure in the field of mathematical biology  as her studies have sought to find results that definitively highlight the non-linearities of biological systems through mathematical analyses. Amarasekare's work has made significant contributions to the dynamics of population regulation, species interactions and the evolution of dispersal, as well as the effect of climate change on the diversity of multi-trophic communities. From 2004 to 2005, Amarasekare served as the vice chair officer of the Ecological Society of America's Theory Section. She subsequently served as Chair Officer of the Theory Section from 2005 to 2006. In 2017, Amarasekare was named a Fellow of the Ecological Society  of America for “distinguished contributions to theoretical ecology, particularly our understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of populations and communities.” Public engagement and outreach. In late 2020, Priyanga Amarasekare joined Frontiers Media as a Specialty Chief Editor for "Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution"’s specialty section, "Models in Ecology and Evolution". Through this position, Amarasekare hopes to promote efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in the field of Mathematical Biology and encourage scientists from under-represented groups to publish their work. Amarasekare is also a member of the Ecological Society of America Diversity Committee from 2021-2023, and was  elected as the 2022-2024 Vice President of the American Society of Naturalists. She ran for this position on a platform of "develop[ing] measures to increase the representation of scientists from developing countries, particularly Asia, Africa and the Middle East, both as members of the society and contributors to "The American Naturalist"". External links. Category:List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 2021