DUSHANBE, January 23, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The University of Central Asia’s (UCA) Senior Research Fellow and Cornell University Professor Karim-Aly Kassam was elected Foreign Member (Academician) of the Academy of Sciences, Republic of Tajikistan, UCA Newsletter, Issue 137, January 22 reports.

Dr Kassam was also appointed English Language Editor of the Academy’s Journal of the Biological and Medical Sciences.  He is no stranger to Central Asia and its academic institutions. Dr Kassam has spent the last seven years researching the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, working closely with UCA and the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. The ceremony took place during the annual meeting of the Academy in Dushanbe last month.

Dr Kassam has a long-standing relationship with UCA.  In 2006, he presented UCA’s inaugural Learning Event Seminar at UCA Khorog.  In 2010, he joined UCA as a Senior Research Fellow. In partnership with UCA, with funding from the Christensen Fund and the National Science Foundation and on-the-ground support from Focus Humanitarian Assistance Afghanistan and the Mountain Societies Development Support Programme, Dr Kassam and his team are developing an internet-based curriculum on research topics for ten universities globally which will link local students at various universities around the world, including Cornell University, Beijing University and UCA.

Dr Kassam has published widely, and selected publications on Central Asia include “Viewing Change Through the Prism of Indigenous Human Ecology: Findings from the Afghan and Tajik Pamirs” in the journal Human Ecology (2009); “Pluralism, Resilience, and the Ecology of Survival: Case Studies from the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan” in Ecology and Society (2010); “Medicinal plant use and Health Sovereignty: Findings from the Tajik and Afghan Pamirs in Human Ecology (2010); “Ecology of Time: Calendar of the Human Body in the Pamir Mountains” in Journal of Persianate Studies (2011); and “Human Ecology of Vulnerability and Adaptation: Case Studies of Climate Change from High Latitudes and Altitudes” in the book Climate Change – Socioeconomic Effects (2011). Professor Kassam has also co-written and co-directed two films on his research in Central Asia entitled Nurturing Knowledge: Plant Biodiversity and Health Sovereignty in the Pamir Mountains (2012) and Protecting the Sacred: The Conservation of Three Sacred Sites in the Pamir Mountains (2012).