Environmental scientist Tom Hutchinson will receive Trent's 1998 Distinguished Research Award for outstanding achievement in research and scholarship.

      One of Canada's foremost ecologists, Hutchinson has a distinguished international reputation for his research on the effects of pollution on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. His research on the effects of smelter pollution in Sudbury is world renowned. Since 1974, he has garnered more than $18 million in research grants to investigate the toxic effects of acid rain on forests and maple sugar production, of oil spills on ecosystems and of oil hydrocarbons on the environment. He has also investigated ecosystem responses to urbanization, land clearance, air pollution and metal contamination.

      The biologist has published a prodigious number of scientific papers - more than 125 refereed articles in scientific journals, 14 book chapters and six books, at last count. A Fellow of the Royal Society since 1985, he is also a member of at least nine other learned societies and has participated on international committees including the National Academy of Sciences expert committee on Atmosphere and Biosphere and the Canadian SCOPE Committee on Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War. In 1995, he was the first Trent faculty member appointed to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, one of Canada's three national research funding and policy bodies, for which he had previously served on grant selection and advisory committees.

      "His research has inspired dozens of students toward professional careers in environmental science, biology and botany," said research and graduate studies dean Paul Healy in his announcement to Senate April 7.       Hutchinson joined Trent's Environmental and Resource Studies Department in January 1991 after 25 years at the University of Toronto. Six months later, he became department chair for three years. He is also involved in two graduate programs at Trent - Watershed Ecosystems and Canadian Heritage and Development.

      The award will be presented to Hutchinson May 29 at convocation.