Steven C. Amstrup, an adjunct professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Zoology and Physiology, was selected from among a group of six finalists to receive the 2012 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation.
Presented by the Indianapolis Zoo, the biennial prize includes an unrestricted award of $100,000 and the Lilly Medal, which will be presented Sept. 29 by Cummins, Inc. at the JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis.
Widely recognized as one of the most important and influential scientists working on polar bear conservation, Amstrup led the international team of researchers whose reports became the basis for the 2008 listing of polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Amstrup’s three decades of polar bear research and his unwavering conviction that solutions can and must be found, created new optimism that polar bears can be saved from extinction.
“Steven’s fieldwork in the Arctic opened the door to understanding that the deterioration of the polar bear population is at our doorstep, while verifying that this is not an irreversible situation,” says Robert Buchanan, President/CEO, Polar Bears International. “His message is one of hope and determination to have future generations see polar bears roam free in the Arctic.”
An adjunct professor at UW since 2006, Amstrup’s first link with UW was when he developed research projects in Alaska with Merav Ben-David, now a professor at UW. He has co-advised Ben-David’s graduate students and helped secure funding for student projects.
