Arthur L. Buikema honored with emeritus status

3 Jun 2015

Arthur L. Buikema Jr., Alumni Distinguished Professor of Ecology in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of “Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The emeritus title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Timothy D. Sands. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive an emeritus certificate from the university.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1971, Buikema is widely known as an innovative teacher of a range of courses from freshman biology, including courses for University Honors, to the advanced graduate level. He has taught multiple courses in other departments and colleges in the university and was the co-architect of a Virginia Tech general biology laboratory manual.

He has received numerous professional and university awards for his teaching, including the William E. Wine Award, the Sporn Award for Teaching Introductory Subjects, and the Diggs Teaching Scholar Award.

For more than 25 years, Buikema conducted basic ecology and aquatic pollution research. He has taught field biology courses in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the Everglades.

Buikema was the advisor to many undergraduate and graduate students during his career. He served as the graduate advisor for 21 master’s degree and nine doctoral degree students and served on multiple graduate advisory committees in the Department of Biological Sciences and other departments

Buikema has written approximately 115 peer-reviewed research papers and book chapters and has presented research papers at more than 200 regional, national, and international scientific research conferences. He has received funding from several state and federal agencies to support his research.

In addition, he has served as a senior scientific advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Zimbabwe.

In 2000, Buikema was invited to give Virginia Tech’s fall University Commencement address.

Buikema received a bachelor’s degree from Elmhurst College and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.