Professor Tom Struhsaker

Tom Struhsaker has been a leader in the study of primate ecology and conservation in Africa for over forty years. Tom received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Primatological Society in 2006 to mark his long-standing contributions to and achievements within primate research and primate conservation. In the 1970's, Tom's search for a site where primates were not hunted took him to Kibale Forest in Uganda, where he set the stage for what arguably became Africa's leading primate and tropical forest research station, conservation, and training site. Through Tom's long-term studies in the Kibale Forest, he initiated many of the methods that are now standard practice in the study of rain forest monkey ecology. Tom has made a significant impact over the generations by mentoring students and forging ties with local and foreign biologists, many of whom have gone on to train the next generation of Ugandan conservationists. He received his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in 1965.