(OSU - Corvallis) - The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program (ALLP)--a new communications training and networking program for environmental scientists--today announced selection of its inaugural class of 20 Fellows.
"This first group of Fellows has been selected from a field of outstanding scientists," said ALLP Program Director, Dr. Judith Vergun, at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. "We're now organizing the training for them that will take place this year on June 15-21 at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon, and on September 9-14 in Washington, D.C."
According to Vergun, ALLP is a five-year program for training environmental scientists to better understand the various communities in which scientific information is used. Upon completion of their training, ALLP Fellows will have enhanced their ability to share scientific knowledge about environmental issues among the media, policy makers, and the private sector.
"Fellows within the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program are committed to the clear presentation of information about environmental issues," said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Steering Committee Chair for ALLP, "and there is a sustained need for scientifically credible communication in this area." An OSU distinguished professor of zoology, Lubchenco is past president of both the Ecological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Members of the steering committee and advisory board for ALLP include representatives from leading universities, government and private agencies, and the news media. ALLP Steering Committee members are affiliated with Oregon State University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Time Magazine, National Public Radio, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Science Foundation--and include a former member of the U.S. Senate.
"This year's cohort of 20 outstanding environmental scientists are committed to a more effective flow of information at all levels--locally, nationally, and internationally," Lubchenco said. "We're very grateful to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for making this program possible."
Administered from Oregon State University offices and in its first year, ALLP is a program affiliated with the Ecological Society of America and is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Fellows chosen this year include:
- Andy Blaustein, Oregon State University
- Jim Clark, Duke University
- Gretchen Daily, Stanford University
- Andy Dobson, Princeton University
- Lisa Graumlich, Columbia University, Montana State University
- Dennis Hartmann, University of Washington
- Mark Hixon, Oregon State University
- Laura Huenneke, New Mexico State University
- Rick Knight, Colorado State University
- Nancy Knowlton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- David Lodge, University of Notre Dame
- Bob Naiman, University of Washington
- Dennis Ojima, Colorado State University
- Stuart Pimm, University of Tennessee
- Alison Power, Cornell University
- Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
- Terry Root, University of Michigan
- Bill Schlesinger, Duke University
- Nancy Targett, University of Delaware
- Diana Wall, Colorado State University
"The 20 Fellows selected this year, as well as the 40 to be chosen during the next two years," Vergun said, "are primarily tenured academic environmental scientists who are active in research and teaching. These mid-career scientists expect to take more of a leadership role in communicating environmental science to a broad audience--within their areas of expertise and influence."
Their areas of expertise and influence include, among others: water and air quality, diseases, fisheries, agriculture, contaminants, global climate change, and endangered species. Training sessions will include five modules: "Providing Leadership within the Scientific Community", "Providing Scientific Input to the Policy Process", "Communicating with the Media", "Interacting with the Business and Corporate Sectors", and "Working with Non-Governmental Organizations."
For more information about the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, please contact Dr. Judith Vergun, Project Director, at vergunj@oce.orst.edu, or Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Steering Committee Chair, at lubchenj@bcc.orst.edu, or visit our Web site at http://www.leopold.orst.edu.
Aldo Leopold Leadership Program Selects First Cohort
By August Baunach, ALLP Communications, 541-737-5709
Source: Dr. Judith Vergun. 541-737-4684
Source: Dr. Jane Lubchenco 541-737-5337