Bryan Carstens, PhD, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, has earned The Ohio State University 2025 Distinguished Scholar Award. Senior leadership in the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge recently surprised Carstens with the honor.
Bryan Carstens receives 2025 Distinguished Scholar Award
Carstens, whose work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, is also affiliated with the Imageomics Institute.
“I've always thought that the way you do good work as a scientist is to empower your grad students and postdocs to do good work. So they did all the work. I just kind of took credit for it, I guess,” Carstens joked after learning of the award.
Cynthia Carnes, senior associate vice president for research operations, shared how mentorship was a key part of every aspect of Carstens’ nomination packet. “They also noted that your contributions have transformed how evolutionary biologists study species in nature,” she added. “You are an exceptionally productive scientist and widely recognized as a world leader in using quantitative analyses to identify species and understand their origins.”
Carsten’s research seeks to understand how biological diversity is generated using computational approaches, investigating empirical systems by identifying the limits of evolutionary lineages in order to evaluate the relative contributions of evolutionary processes and infer the ecological and environmental forces that have contributed to the formation of population genetic structure.
“Bryan is a spectacular scientist documented by his international reputation,” said Susan Olesik, divisional dean of natural and mathematical sciences. “We are so very proud of his contributions in science and also his leadership within the department and university.”
“There's really nobody I can think of that is more deserving,” said Harald Vaessin, interim chair of the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. “You're a remarkable scientist on all levels, and also a transformational leader in the department. I can see taking over from you (as interim department chair), that you do exceptional work on all levels.”
Carstens was awarded Ohio State's Harlan Hatcher Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor Award and has been elected as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He serves as editor-in-chief of Systematic Biology and as a founding editor of the Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists. Carstens earned bachelor’s degrees in English and Zoology, as well as his master’s degree in Zoology, from Michigan State University. He earned his PhD at the University of Idaho and worked as a postdoc at the University of Michigan. Prior to coming to Ohio State, he was an assistant professor at Louisiana State University.
The Distinguished Scholar Award is among the highest annual honors awarded at Ohio State. The university-level award annually honors six faculty members who demonstrate scholarly activity, conduct research or creative works that represent exceptional achievements in their fields and garner distinction for the university. Award recipients are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of senior faculty, including past award recipients. Distinguished Scholars receive an honorarium and a research grant to be used over the next three years.
Quotes from Carsten’s nomination:
“His record of achievement is exceptional for the length of time over which he has exhibited scholarly leadership in the field of phylogeography and related disciplines. His impact has not been a passing flash-in-the-pan. Rather, he has consistently demonstrated innovation and creativity, and has visibly moved the field to a new, more robust hypothesis-testing framework. He has consistently brought out the best in a new generation of students and postdoctoral fellows and has simultaneously improved best practices in the phylogeographic community.” Scott V. Edwards, Harvard University.
“From my perspective, Professor Carstens’ greatest impact on evolutionary biology is the development of methodological approaches to use DNA sequence data…to the science of species discovery and delimitation. For hundreds of years humans have been discovering and naming species diversity using morphological traits. While it may appear elementary that scientists began using genetic to discover and delimit species, Professor Carstens is not simply a practitioner, he is an innovator…his work in this area has not only provided a path for species discovery in organisms that are challenging to describe phenotypically, but he has introduced statistical rigor in the articulation of species diversity across the tree of life.” Thomas J. Near, Yale University.
“Much of his scholarly effort has been in the fields of Biodiversity Science, including studies of biogeography, phylogeography, trait diversification, and evolutionary demography of species. In all research arenas he adopts novel and integrative approaches to understand the history of animal lineages, and their diversification. It is not an exaggeration to say that Bryan is one of the leading biodiversity scientists in the nation and his work is an important contribution to our understanding of the origin and maintenance of biodiversity worldwide.” Kelly R. Zamudio, University of Texas.