Frederick A. Swarts, Ph.D. is a recognized authority in both science and religion, and has been long active in the non-governmental area. As a scientist, he serves as the Life Sciences Editor for the New World Encyclopedia, for which he has authored or edited over 1,200 articles in the realms of biology, biochemistry, medicine, ecology, evolution, and  paleontology, among others. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Bridgeport, where he teachers graduate-level course in sustainable development and research methods. He also serves as President and Senior Research Scientist for Aquatic Ecology with the Waterland Research Institute for Water and Land Resources, a non-profit, inter-disciplinary, research, education, and conservation organization primarily active in the Paraguay River Basin in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, but also the Delaware River Valley in the United States.  Dr. Swarts has served as Secretary General of the World Conference on Preservation and Sustainable Development in the Pantanal, and Secretary General of the International Conference on Agriculture and the Environment in the Paraguay River Basin. In the nonprofit realm, Dr. Swarts held the position of Assistant Secretary General for the World Association  of Non-Governmental Organizations, an international membership organization for NGOs (nonprofits, charities, third sector organizations) worldwide, with members in over 120 nations. In addition to these accomplishments he has a distinguished background in the areas of religion, global ethics, and comparative religions, having pursued three years of seminary studies in religious education and comparative religions.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bucknell University, with a B.S. in Biology, Dr. Swarts received his M.S. in Zoology from Pennsylvania State University, specializing in aquatic ecology. He completed his doctoral studies at Columbia University Teacher’s College and the Graduate School of the Union Institute, graduating with a Ph.D. in Biology and Education from the latter institution. His dissertation research dealt with the presentation of evolution in secondary school textbooks of the United States, China, and the then-U.S.S.R. His interdisciplinary doctoral committee consisted of professors from Columbia University, Pennsylvania State University, Union Institute, and the University of North Carolina at Asheville. His environmental research endeavors include an extensive field study of brook trout in streams affected by acid-mine drainage in Pennsylvania and study of an exceptional tolerance of some tropical blackwater fish to low pH.

Dr. Swarts is the editor of The Pantanal: Understanding and Preserving the World’s Largest Wetland (Paragon House Publishers 2000), the most comprehensive, English-language text on this region. He is also co-editor of Culture of Responsibility and the Role of NGOs(Paragon House Publishers 2003. He has published scholarly articles in the fields of aquatic ecology, environmental science, evolution, and education, including Ecology, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

Among other experiences, Dr. Swarts gave the Keynote Address for the Society of Wetland Scientists’ 1999 Annual Conference, organized a panel on The World’s Fresh Water & Wetlands in the 21st Century, for the State of the World Forum 2000, and organized and headed a fact-finding tour of American and international authorities to the Pantanal area of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

As a biologist and educator, Dr. Swarts serves on the board of directors for a number of not-for-profit organizations, and he has played a leading role in the conducting of conferences in 22 nations for scientists, academicians, administration officials, political leaders, and United Nations secretariat and embassy personnel. He also holds a first-degree black belt in Won Hwa Do, a unified martial arts combining the skills of karate and judo. He and his wife Lourdes, who have been married for 40 years, have four children.