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20 Scientists Selected as Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows for 2004

Twenty outstanding academic environmental scientists from throughout the U.S. and Guam have been selected as Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows for 2004.

Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowships provide scientists with intensive communications and leadership training to help them communicate scientific information effectively to non-scientific audiences, especially policy makers, the media, business leaders and the public.   The Fellows are selected through a competitive application process. Fellows have outstanding scientific qualifications, demonstrated leadership ability and a strong interest in communicating science beyond traditional academic audiences.

The 2004 Fellows represent a broad range of environmental science disciplines, including environmental engineering, wildlife veterinary medicine, tropical forestry, marine ecology and environmental economics.

"We are absolutely thrilled with the 2004 cohort of Leopold Leadership Fellows," said Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor of Zoology at   Oregon State University who co-founded the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program and co-chairs the steering committee.   "As individuals, each is outstanding in his or her field, and as a group, they provide a wonderful mix of disciplines and potential for new and interesting collaborations.   They will learn a lot in the training sessions, but they also have a lot to offer each other and to the Leopold Leadership Program."

The 2004 Fellows join 60 other outstanding environmental scientists who previously received Leopold Leadership Fellowships and participated in the training, including Bill Schlesinger, Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, Pamela Matson, Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University and Jianguo (Jack) Liu, professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. For a complete list of Fellows, including biographical information, visit the website: www.leopoldleadership.org

The scientists previously selected as Leopold Leadership Fellows report that the fellowship training program has greatly enhanced their ability to communicate their scientific work to journalists, policy makers and other non-scientists.   Several have become regular sources of scientific information for reporters, and many have written op-ed articles published in local and national newspapers.

"Before (the fellowship training) I was attempting to translate science to the public, particularly environmental policy makers and regulators, but without many tools or even confidence," said Susan Williams, a 2000 Leopold Leadership Fellow who is professor of environmental science and policy and director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory at the University of California Davis. "The Leopold Program made me more effective and provided means to improve policy and media interactions, which have increased dramatically."

The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program was launched in 1998 with the goal of improving the flow of accurate, credible scientific information to policy makers, the media and the public by training outstanding academic environmental scientists to be better communicators of complex scientific information.

"Environmental scientists have valuable knowledge that should be available to citizens and policy makers as they make choices about the future of our planet and our communities. It is vitally important to all of us that scientists be able to provide accurate information in plain language and in the context of everyday life to those who are determining our environmental policies and practices," said Lubchenco.

The program is named for Aldo Leopold, a renowned environmental scientist who communicated his scientific knowledge simply and eloquently.   His writings, including his 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac , are credited with infusing the emerging conservation movement with good science and a stewardship ethic.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2005 Leopold Leadership Fellowships.   The deadline for applying is April 19, 2004.

The 2004 Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows

Peter Alpert, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Robin Autenrieth, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University

Sharon Collinge, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado, Boulder

Patricia Conrad, Professor Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis

Lisa Curran, Associate Professor, Director, Tropical Resources Institute, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Scott Doney, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Adjunct faculty, Departments of Geology, Aerospace Engineering & Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder

N. Thompson Hobbs, Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Bruce Hungate, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University

Jonathan Koomey, Visiting Professor, Joint appointment; Engineering and Earth Science, Stanford University

Beverly Law, Associate Professor, Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis

Thomas Litwin, Director, Clark Science Center, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Science & Policy, Smith College

David Maehr, Associate Professor, Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky, Lexington

John McCarty, Associate Professor, Department of Biology and Director, Environmental Studies Program, University of Nebraska, Omaha

Fiorenza Micheli, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University

Nalini Nadkarni, Member of the Faculty, Department of Environmental Studies, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington

Barry Noon, Professor, Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

N. Leroy Poff, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Thomas Princen, Associate Professor, Natural Resources and Environmental Policy, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Robert Richmond, Research Professor, Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Pacific Biomedical Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Professor, Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, Mangilao

David Secord, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; Environmental Science Coordinator, Environmental Sciences Program, University of Washington, Tacoma

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