In the heart of those who explore lies a deep desire to expose all of us to the part of the universe they reveal. Those are the people we call teachers and professors and show our highest gratitude and respect. Jay P. Sah, a research associate professor at the Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC)/ Institute of Water and Environment (InWE), is an explorer who has spent most of his life experimenting with Mother Nature to learn more about her. The scientific community highly acknowledges Mr. Sah as an author of almost three hundred research papers on various fields, such as vegetation-environmental relationships, disturbance ecology, community ecology, wetland ecology and management, biodiversity conservation, environmental management, environmental impact assessment, and interdisciplinary approaches to natural resource ecology and management.
Mr. Sah took his first step in his professional life as an assistant lecturer at Tribhuvan University in the capital city of Nepal after earning his MSc in botany from the same university. He was awarded a Meritorious Scholarship for being the highest-scoring student in the entire class of 1982 at Tribhuvan University. His never-ending academic success was also evident when he was awarded the James A. Linen III Memorial Prize for securing the highest marks in the graduating class of 1993 at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, where he pursued a master’s degree in natural resource management after receiving the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Scholarship.
His scientific accomplishments reached a new height when he attended Florida International University, USA, to get his Ph.D. in biology. As a postdoctoral research associate at the university from 2002 to 2003, he honed his skills in research design, coordination of field works, data analysis, report writing, presentations, and manuscript preparation to analyze Tree Island and L-31 vegetation data and write about the vegetation part of the comprehensive reports. Moreover, as a visiting research associate at the same university from 2003 to 2007, he focused on studying the ecosystem of South Florida, especially the habitat of the endangered seaside sparrow. After serving as a research associate/faculty member at Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, since 2007, he was honored with a Ten-Year Service Award in the Fall of 2013. In addition, he was awarded the Research Excellence Award by the College of Arts, Science, and Education (CASE) of Florida International University in the fall of 2017.
The most extraordinary award for Mr. Sah is undoubtedly the success of hundreds of individuals he has enlightened and is enlightening through his teaching, books, technical reports, and mentorships. I have given back to society by holding significant positions in organizations such as the International Association of Vegetation Science (IAVS), International Association for Ecology (INTECOL), Ecological Society of America (ESA), Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), National Geographic Society (NGS), Natural History Society of Nepal (NAHSON), Nepal Botanical Society (NBS); Ecological Society, Nepal (ECOS); Wetlands Nepal (WetNepal), and Nepal Botanical Society, Mr. Sah’s legacy will always be celebrated by everyone enthusiastic about the path he follows, or is simply inspired by the passion he inherits for scientific exploration.
Dr. Jay P Sah: The Ecosystem of Success
