Based at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program each year awards as many as 20 fellowships to mid-career academic environmental scientists. The 2006 fellows come from a wide range of backgrounds, including atmospheric sciences, tropical forest ecology, oceanography and anthropology. They will join a network of 100 past fellows who are active in outreach to policy makers, journalists and other non-scientific audiences.
"Good policymaking depends on sound information conveyed clearly and accurately," said Debbie Drake Dunne, executive director of the program. "It also depends on building relationships with decision makers, the news media and other organizations. The Leopold Leadership Fellows are given the tools to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences, with the ultimate goal of better informed policymaking."
Leadership skills
Fellows are chosen for their outstanding scientific qualifications, demonstrated leadership ability and strong interest in communicating science beyond traditional academic audiences. Each fellow participates in two weeklong training sessions that include practice interviews with journalists and a mock congressional hearing at which they practice giving testimony. The fellowship also offers peer networking and mentoring through the Aldo Leopold Leadership Network of program advisers, trainers and past fellows.
Named for environmental scientist and writer Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac, the program was founded in 1998 by Jane Lubchenco, the Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, and is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
"Academic scientists often lack the special communication skills necessary to give decision makers the information they need to address pressing environmental challenges," said Pamela Matson, the Chester Naramore Dean of the Stanford School of Earth Sciences, who chairs the program's advisory committee. "The Leopold Leadership Program provides them with critical skills and intensive training to do so more effectively."
RELEVANT WEB URLS:
ALDO LEOPOLD LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
http://leopoldleadership.org/
WOODS INSTITUTE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
http://environment.stanford.edu/
Following are the names and affiliations of the 2006 Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows:
Andrew Dessler, associate professor of atmospheric sciences, Texas A&M University
J. Emmett Duffy, professor of marine science, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary
Selina Heppell, assistant professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University
Karen Hodges, assistant professor and Bert Brink Canada Research Council Chair in Conservation Biology, University of British Columbia-Okanagan
David Hooper, associate professor, Department of Biology, Western Washington University
Stephen Jackson, professor, Department of Botany, University of Wyoming
Romuald Lipcius, professor of marine science, Department of Fisheries Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary
Margaret Lowman, professor of biology and environmental studies and chair of environmental studies, New College of Florida
Margaret Anne McManus, assistant professor, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii-Manoa
Julia Parrish, associate professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Biology Department, University of Washington
Adina Paytan, assistant professor of geological and environmental sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University
Kathleen Ann Pickering, associate professor, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University
Christopher Reddy, associate scientist, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Denise Reed, professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of New Orleans
Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, associate professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
James Schaefer, associate professor, Biology Department, Trent University
Joshua Schimel, professor and chair, Environmental Studies Program, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California-Santa Barbara
Emily Stanley, associate professor, Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin
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