Career
He was a fellow of the American Academy of, and served as president of the American Society of Naturalists (1939), American Biological Society (1942), and the Botanical Society of America (1949). He was also a strong advocate of eugenics over the course of his career. Lewis was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and earned a Bachelor of Surgery (1902) and Master of Surgery (1903) at the University of North Carolina.
He earned a Doctor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University in 1908, and was Professor of Biology at Randolph–Macon College from 1905 to 1912.
Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Wisconsin from 1912 to 1914. Professor of Botany at the University of Missouri from 1914 to 1915.
And in 1915 became Professor of Biology and Agriculture at the University of Virginia. He was appointed Dean of University in 1934 and Dean of the College of in 1946, a position he held until his retirement in 1953.
The standard author transcript I.F.Lewis is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.
