Harry Greene Wins W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award
Adjunct professor Harry Greene received the W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award at the 2026 annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists.
Greene smiling in front of a den of prairie rattlesnakes in Colorado.
In high school, aspiring young naturalist Harry Greene wrote a letter to zoologist W. Frank Blair asking about research ideas on his favorite animal, the alligator lizard.
Now an adjunct professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at The University of Texas at Austin, Greene’s career has come full circle. Greene received the W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award at the 2026 annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists earlier this year. The award recognizes scientists who have committed their careers to study the conservation of flora and fauna in the Southwestern US, Mexico, and Central America.
Greene holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Texas Wesleyan College, a Biology Master’s from UT Arlington and a Zoology Ph.D. from The University of Tennessee. He studies the behavior, ecology, evolution and conservation of vertebrates — particularly snakes. His research focuses on feeding and defensive behaviors in biology and how humans and apex predators can coexist.
W. Frank Blair (1912-1984), the award’s namesake, was a prominent zoologist with deep connections to The University of Texas at Austin. He began teaching at the university in 1955 and became a professor emeritus in zoology upon retirement. Blair also founded the Biodiversity Collections in the late 1940s and served as the first director of Brackenridge Field Laboratory in 1967.
The Southwestern Association of Naturalists promotes research on living and fossilized plants and animals in the United States Southwest, Mexico, and Canada. The W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award is one of five awards it offers celebrating naturalists, researchers, educators, and others who have contributed outstanding services to the organization.
