Marie-Josée Fortin

Marie-Josée Fortin, born on October twenty-first, nineteen fifty-eight, is a distinguished ecologist and a prominent figure in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology. Currently, she serves as a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, where she holds the prestigious Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Spatial Ecology.

Her academic journey began at the Université de Montréal, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in biological sciences in nineteen eighty-three, followed by a Master of Science in numerical ecology in nineteen eighty-six. Under the mentorship of Pierre Legendre, she laid the groundwork for her future research endeavors. Fortin further advanced her studies by obtaining a PhD in ecology and evolution from Stony Brook University in nineteen ninety-two, where she was notably the last doctoral student of Robert Sokal.

Following her doctoral studies, Fortin completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Université Laval from nineteen ninety-two to nineteen ninety-four, working under the guidance of Serge Payette. She began her academic career as an assistant professor in biology at Université de Sherbrooke in nineteen ninety-four, later transitioning to a professorship in geography at Université de Montréal in nineteen ninety-seven. Her career also included a brief tenure at Simon Fraser University between two thousand and two thousand one, before she joined the University of Toronto as an associate professor.

In two thousand six, Fortin was promoted to full professor at the University of Toronto, and in two thousand twenty, she achieved the title of university professor. Her contributions to the field have been recognized widely, culminating in her election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in two thousand sixteen, a testament to her significant impact on ecological research.