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2024 Candidate Kelly Ramirez

2024 candidate for Governing Board Kelly RamirezKelly Ramirez
Assistant Professor
University of Texas at El Paso

Candidate for: Member of the Governing Board (incumbent)

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological sciences at UTEP. I earned my bachelor’s degree from Washington State University in 2007, then headed to the University of Colorado and earned a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2012. I worked as the Executive Director of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI), where I was tasked with elevating the importance of soil biodiversity for soil health, and thus global soil policy. From 2014-2019 I worked with the Netherlands Institute of Ecology as a postdoctoral researcher. During that time, I co-founded 500 Women Scientists — a non-profit with the mission to make science more open, inclusive, and accessible by fighting racism, patriarchy, and oppressive social norms. Today, I manage the Global Change-Microbial Ecology Lab, where we focus on the impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures on soil microbial community diversity and functions. Specifically, the lab is interested in understanding the microbial mechanisms that control soil carbon dynamics, primary productivity, and over soil health, with the ultimate goal of conserving soil biodiversity and ecosystems services in desert ecosystems. 

What interests, experiences or skills would you bring to this position?

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where I am a member of the Biological Sciences faculty. Since graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder where I earned a PhD in Ecology and Evolution, I have held several post-doc positions where I led projects related to soil biodiversity, including Executive Director of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI). In addition to my scientific career, I co-founded 500 Women Scientists, a non-profit organization with the mission to make science more open, inclusive, and accessible, by fighting racism, the patriarchy, and oppressive social norms.

In 2022 I was elected to the governing board of ESA and since then have participated in several in-person and virtual meetings, sat on 4 committees, and one working group on strategic development. After 1 term, I feel like I still have a lot to contribute to the Society – including supporting our Diversity Committee which I was nominated for this spring.

I have been a member of ESA since 2008, making sure to travel regularly to participate in the conference even when living abroad. I have organized Inspire sessions on microbial ecology, put on a workshop on intersectionality in ecology, and in 2021 was invited to give the Recent Advances Plenary.

How would you support ESA’s mission? How would you plan to promote DEIJ in ESA membership and activities if elected?

Science and scientific institutions are far from inclusive and have a history of discrimination, harassment, and inequity that have repeatedly marginalized individuals who are not male or white.  I believe that to support and elevate individual scientists, we must approach science and decision-making with an intersectional lens (Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw 1989). This means we need to acknowledge that an individual’s racial, gender, cultural, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic background, and other faces can result in disadvantage and discrimination throughout their scientific career.

My founding and participation in 500 Women Scientists is a clear example of my values and how I will participate and lead within the ESA governing body. To promote DEIJ in ESA’s membership and decision making I will focus on efforts that (1) provide learning opportunities that encourage our members to evaluate their own interactions, mentorship, teaching, and research through a DEIJ lens; (2) help the society identify and create partnerships with organizations with shared DEIJ values; and (3) normalize the culture of DEIJ within ESA – in conversation, actions, and long-term strategy.