ATHENS, Ga. – Bruce Beck, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Warnell School of Forest Resources professor of environmental systems analysis, has been appointed by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) to serve as an Institute Scholar for the year 2006.
Coming on the heels of another successful recruiting job by the Georgia Research Alliance, Beck’s appointment provides more evidence of the tremendous influence this program is having recruiting the best and brightest minds in the world to come work in Georgia’s higher education community.
As an Institute Scholar at IIASA, Beck will work in the company of Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen (chemistry) and Schumpeter Laureate Brian Arthur (economics), among other internationally prominent researchers.
Among his responsibilities, Beck has been asked to advise the director of IIASA on the future direction of the Institute’s water initiative. He will also support and advise students participating in the Institute’s Young Scientists Summer Program.
Beck views the appointment as a personal honor that provides a greatly appreciated professional opportunity. “I won’t say I see this as the crowning glory of my career, but it is good and most worthy,” the British native remarked.
IIASA is a non-governmental research organization. It conducts inter-disciplinary scientific studies on environmental, economic, technological and social issues in the context of human dimensions of global change. IIASA is located in Austria near Vienna and is sponsored by its national member organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, according to the Institute’s website.
The Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia provides four degree path programs in forestry and natural resource science and management. These include the forestry, wildlife, fisheries, and water and soil resources programs. With more than fifty faculty and 23,000 acres of teaching lands, WSFR is the oldest, and one of the most respected, forestry and natural resource education providers in the southeastern United States. The school also houses one of the largest study abroad programs in the nation to provide global learning opportunities for its students. For more information, visit the WSFR website at www.uga.edu/wsfr.