b'YOSSI LESHEM, PhDYossi Leshem, PhD is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University, and Founder of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration. In 1971, he began his career at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and was CEO and Chair of its public council. Yossi has been researching bird migration and raptor breeding ecology for five decades. His doctoral research at Tel Aviv University, conducted in cooperation with the Israel Air Force, reduced aircraft-bird collisions by 76%, thus saving the national budget $1.5 billion. Yossi developed an online scientific educational curriculum (www.birds.org.il) that is currently taught in approximately 450 schools. He spearheaded the national effort to use barn owls as biological pest control agents in agriculture, significantly reducing the use of pesticides, and led an extensive research project in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute at Radolfzell to track migrating storks, using satellite transmitters. The Ministry of Education in Israel financed the program to promote science and technology studies by tracking the migrating storks online. Since 2002, Yossi has initiated a host of successful joint projects with the Jordanians and Palestinians using barn owls as biological pest control agents in agriculture, combining education, research, and nature conservation. The project became a national and regional project with 4,500 nesting boxes which reduced dramatically the use of pesticides in the region. Now Yossi leads a trilateral project with Cyprus, Greece, and Israel on the same subject. In parallel, he works with the Chief of General Staffs office to implement the Nature Defense ForcesCommanders Take Responsibility for their Environment project. Today, in this initiate, there are 60 projects with an educational emphasis for the commanders and soldiers to protect nature and the environment. Yossi received many awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Protection, the Minister for Environmental Protection on Israels 60th independence celebrations; Bruno H. Schubert Foundation Award for World Nature Conservation; Lifetime Achievement Award, The Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Honorary Fellowship Award, Board of Governors, Technion; Honorary Membership, Israel Zoological Society; Significant Contributor to Israel Aviation Award, the Israeli Air Line Pilots Association; and a medal of appreciation from the commander of the Israeli Air Force. The author of 11 books, many scientific articles, and hundreds of popular articles, Yossi is the father of five and grandfather to eight.'