Dr. Nalini Nadkarni is a forest ecologist and a science communicator. She was a faculty member at The Evergreen State College for 20 years, and in 2011, joined the University of Utah as a Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education. She received her B.S. degree from Brown University, and her PhD from University of Washington. Her awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship, the 2011 NSF Public Service Award, and the 2012 AAAS Award for Public Engagement, and the 2013 Carr Medal for Conservation. Her research concerns the ecological roles of canopy-dwelling biota in forest ecosystems. She has published over 100 scientific articles and four scholarly books.
She is deeply interested in public engagement of science, and has given two TED talks, and has been highlighted in magazines such as National Geographic, Glamour, and Playboy Magazine. She created the “Research Ambassador Program” to train scientists to engage the public in non-traditional venues, such as churches, pre-schools, tattoo parlors, and sports stadiums. In 2005, she co-founded the Sustainability in Prisons Project, which brings science, scientists, and nature to incarcerated men and women, and which is now being expanded to a national level.
Contributions to Humans & Nature:
- Articulate Earth
A question response with Chris Maynard to “What does Earth ask of us?”
Noteworthy Links:
- Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees
A book by Nalini Nadkarni. - Nalini Nadkarni
Visit Nalini Nadkarni’s website. - A video: Conserving the Canopy
Watch Nalini Nadkarni discuss her work in this 16 minute TED talk.
