Pablo Borboroglu, an internationally recognized expert on penguin ecology and land and sea conservation. Photo courtesy of Pablo BorborogluIndiana University will welcome the winner of the 2023 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation, to IU Bloomington for a public lecture at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 27 in Presidents Hall at Franklin Hall.

Pablo Borboroglu, an internationally recognized expert on penguin ecology and land and sea conservation, will speak about his more than three decades of research to better understand penguins’ breeding, feeding, migration and habitat needs. His many conservation efforts include founding the Global Penguin Society, which protects millions of acres of penguin habitat across the globe.

IU President Pamela Whitten serves on the Indianapolis Prize Executive Committee, following a longstanding tradition of IU presidents serving in this capacity, dating back to 2008.

Register to attend the event.

Like Borboroglu, IU researchers are tackling animal conservation in a variety of ways, making an impact across the globe. A few of the ways the university’s researchers are leading efforts to advance animal conservation:

• To understand what elephants can tell humans about aging, Daniella Chusyd is researching how elephant species live as long as they do — into their early 70s, like humans — without the benefit of medicine and science. Additionally, her research will better understand the impact of human activities on elephant aging, which can ultimately inform strategies that allow humans and elephants to coexist. Chusyd is an assistant professor in the School of Public Health-Bloomington.
• To address wildlife trafficking, one of the most common illicit activities globally, Sunandan Chakraborty is using a $216,000 National Science Foundation grant for his project “An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Discovery, Analysis and Disruption of Wildlife Trafficking Networks.” The project will counter wildlife trafficking activities through new approaches for data discovery, analytics and modeling, while promoting research into criminal activities that have an online footprint. Chakraborty is an assistant professor of data science in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering at IUPUI.
• Andean flamingos are among the rarest waterbird species on the planet. To understand their high risk of extinction in the near future, Alex Jahn is researching the impact of climate change and mining pollution on the wetlands that the flamingos need for breeding and food. He and colleagues will ultimately provide recommendations to local government and non-government agencies for protecting the flamingos. Jahn is an assistant research scientist in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology at IU Bloomington and the co-director of the IU Midwest Center for Biodiversity.