Dr. Janzen received his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley, 1965. He has been a Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania since 1976. His research interests include ecology and biodiversity of ecosystems.

Some of his publications include Costa Rican Natural History (1983), The Future of Tropical Ecology (1986 - Ann rev. Ecol. Syst. 17, 305-24), Guanacaste National Park: Tropical Ecological and biocultural Restoration. In Rehabilitating Damaged Ecosystems, (vol. 11, pp. 143-192, CRC Press, 1988) Biodiversity Prospecting, co-editor (World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.), All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) of Terrestial System (a generic protocol for preparing wildland biodiversity for non-damaging use. Report of a NSF Workshop, 16-18 April 1993, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Wildland Biodiversity Management in the Tropics: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going? (1994).

Dr. Janzen received one of three Kyoto Prizes given in 1997. The Kyoto Prize is one of the most renowned privately sponsored awards in the world and is presented for extraordinary lifelong achievement. The criteria for winning this award is based on an individual's material and intellectual contributions to technical progress and human development. The awards, established by the Inamouri Foundation, have been presented annually since 1985 and are meant to counterbalance the Nobel Prizes.

Dr. Janzen also won a MacArthur Fellowship, the Craaford Prize (Ecology's version of the Nobel Prize), and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.