Michal Kowalewski has been selected as a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society. He is among nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators who were chosen as fellows based on their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements throughout their careers.
Kowalewski is the Thompson chair of invertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where he studies marine fossils that were preserved shortly before humans began significantly altering Earth’s environments. He uses this information to determine how diverse these environments used to be, how they have changed due to human activities, and how this knowledge can be used in conservation and restoration of ecosystems.
“Michal is one of the leading experts in the field of conservation paleobiology, including understanding the fossil record of the recent past to help inform how we think about and manage modern biodiversity,” said David Blackburn, the curator of herpetology at the Florida Museum and chair of the department of natural history. “We’re thrilled that he’s received this recognition and proud that he leads our invertebrate paleontology program at the museum.”
Michal joins several other Florida Museum researchers who recently joined ranks of AAAS fellows, including David Blackburn and Robert Guralnick (2023), Pamela Soltis (2022), and Douglas Soltis and Lawrence Page (2019).
An additional nine researchers and experts from the University of Florida were chosen as 2025 AAAS fellows. The roster of 2025 fellows was officially announced on Thursday, March 26 at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Source: Michal Kowalewski, mkowalewski@flmnh.ufl.edu
Media contact: Jerald Pinson, jpinson@flmnh.ufl.edu, 352-294-0452