Fakhri Bazzaz

Both Steward Pickett and the late Fakhri Bazzaz, who was Pickett’s doctoral advisor, are renowned for their passion in broadening participation and mentoring a wide diversity of aspiring scientists to tackle the most challenging ecological issues of our time.

Bazzaz, in a career that spanned more than four decades at the University of Illinois and then Harvard University, was a pioneer in the study of plant succession and the effects of climate change on plant community dynamics. He retired in 2004 and passed away in 2008. He was always willing to serve the Ecological Society of America (ESA). He chaired the Eminent Ecologist Awards Committee in 1984–1985, and served the Physiological Ecology Section as Secretary for two terms, from 1986 to 1992. He served on the Society’s Nominating Committee in 1983–1984. He was an author on the ESA’s Issues in Ecology Series, Number 5, entitled Biotic Invasions: Causes, Epidemiology, Global Consequences and Control. Bazzaz, an Iraqi American, mentored over fifty students and actively sought to broaden human diversity in ecology and to create an atmosphere of inclusion and belonging.