Plant evolutionary biologist Spencer Barrett, has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as an international member. Election to the academy represents one of the highest honours awarded to a scientist worldwide and is in recognition of "distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."
Barrett is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. His research addresses diverse questions, with a focus on understanding evolutionary transitions in plant reproductive systems, floral biology and contemporary evolution in invasive plants. Barrett is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London and is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He won the Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada and the Sewall Wright Award from the American Society of Naturalists. He has been president of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B.
He has published over 300 articles, trained over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and has past and present collaborations with researchers around the world including Brazil, China, Portugal and South Africa.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is a society of distinguished scientists, which was established by an Act of Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. They provide independent and objective advice to the U.S. government on science- and technology-related matters.