Amitabh Joshi | |
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| Born | (1965-03-04)4 March 1965 (age 60) Agra, India |
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| Known for | Studies onPopulation genetics Quantitative genetics Evolutionary genetics Population ecology |
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Amitabh Joshi (born 1965) is an Indian evolutionary biologist, population ecologist, geneticist and a professor atJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).[1][2] He heads theEvolutionary Biology Laboratory at JNCASR and is known for his studies onEvolutionary genetics andPopulation ecology.[3] An elected fellow of theIndian Academy of Sciences,[4]National Academy of Sciences, India,[5] andIndian National Science Academy, he was also a J. C. Bose National Fellow (2011-2021) of theDepartment of Science and Technology.[6] He served as the Chief Editor of theJournal of Genetics (2008-2014) and Editor of Publications of theIndian Academy of Sciences (2017-2021). TheCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2009, for his contributions to biological sciences.[7]
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Joshi was born on 4 March 1965 to Devi Datt Joshi and Nirmala Joshi (nee Pande) in the Indian city ofAgra. He did his schooling in St. Francis Nursery School and St. Peter's College, Agra. He then did his graduation (BSc Hons in Botany, 1982–85,Hindu College, Delhi) and Master's studies (M.Sc. in Genetics,1985–87) fromDelhi University South Campus, and moved toWashington State University from where he obtained a PhD in 1993, working withJohn N. Thompson and Michael E. Moody.[8] His Ph.D. thesis was titledCoevolution and variation in competition betweenDrosophila species; in addition, his collaboration with Moody resulted in two papers on the cost-of-sex issue, published in theJournal of Theoretical Biology.[9] During this period, he also worked as a research assistant (1987–88) and a teaching assistant at the university (1987–93). He stayed in the US until 1996 to complete his post-doctoral studies in the laboratory ofLaurence D. Mueller of theUniversity of California, Irvine and returned to India to work as a visitor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences ofIndian Institute of Science for a month.[1] In April 1996, he joinedJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research as a member of faculty at theAnimal Behaviour Unit and shifted toEvolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit in 1998 where he rose in rank from a faculty fellow (1998–2001) to an associate professor,[10] reaching the position of a professor in 2007. He heads the Evolutionary Biology Laboratory of the institution where he hosts a number of research scholars. In between, he served as a visiting faculty at theBerlin Institute for Advanced Study in 2001.[6] He is also an adjunct faculty of theIndian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali[11] and resides inBengaluru, inKarnataka.[12]
Joshi continues his early researches on Drosophila but has now combined his evolution studies with theoretical work using computer simulations.[6] His researches focuses on the inter-relations between the genetics of organisms and their ecology and the influence of these factors in their evolutionary path. His laboratory studies various evolutionary aspects such as the rate of development, patterns of progeny and ageing and investigates the development of competitive abilities and stress resistance in organisms.[13] His researches have been documented by way of a number of articles[note 1] and several of them have been listed by many major online article repositories such asGoogle Scholar,[14]ResearchGate,[15] Academic Tree[16] and PubFacts.[17] He has also published a book,Stability in Model Populations, co-authored by his post-doctoral guide, Laurence D. Mueller.[18] He is on the list of mentors of doctoral studies at theIndian Institute of Science[19] and has guided several scholars in their researches.[20]
AtJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Joshi has served as a member of the Screening Committee for Life Sciences and sat as the convenor of the committee in 1999 and 2000.[8] He is a former member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of JNCASR during 1999–2001 and was the coordinator of theDiscussion Meeting on Origin and Evolution of Life, anISRO-IAS event held inCoorg in 2000. He was also associated in organizing seminars and conferences such as the Association for Tropical Biology-Annual Meeting (Bengaluru 2001), One-Day Symposium on Evolutionary Biology in honour of Stephen Jay Gould (JNCASR 2002), Workshop on Adaptation and Time (JNCASR 2002) and Four Day Lecture Programme on Evolutionary and Organismal Biology (Delhi University 2002). He is a former member of the Vice Chancellor's Empowered Committee for Restructuring the Undergraduate Science Programme of Delhi University (2002–04), Planning Committee of Indian School in Chronobiology (2002), Expert Consultative Committee of the Department of Science and Technology (2004) and Sectional Committee ofIndian Academy of Sciences for Animal and Plant Sciences (2004–06) and sits in the Board of Studies in Genetics ofMysore University and Project Advisory Committee for Animal Sciences of Department of Science and Technology. He has been associated with Resonance: Journal of Science Education (editorial board member, associate editor), Journal of Biosciences on the Origin of Life (guest editor 1997–98), Journal of Genetics onEvolutionary genetics: the Drosophila model (guest editor–2003) and the Journal of Genetics (editor).[8] He was also among the 370 scientists who expresses their disapproval of the handling of2016 JNU protests.[21]
Joshi was selected as aYoung Associate by theIndian Academy of Sciences in 1997 for a period of three years[8] and was elected as its fellow in 2001.[4] The same year, he was elected byBerlin Institute for Advanced Study as a fellow for his project,Life History Evolution in Drosophila.[22] He was elected as aNational Academy of Sciences, India fellow in 2002[5] and theCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2009 for his contributions to Biological Sciences.[23] A J. C. Bose National fellow, Joshi was selected for the National Leadership Award of theLakshmipat Singhania Academy-IIM Lucknow in 2010. In 2011, theIndian National Science Academy elected him as a fellow.[6]
