Introducing 2023 ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholars 

News Release – the Ecological Society of America

Nov. 1, 2023
For Immediate Release
Contact: Alison Mize, alison@esa.org

The 2023 ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholars  Announced

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is delighted to introduce the 2023 cohort of ESA Excellence in Ecology (EEE) Scholars. This prestigious scholarship program is designed to support and elevate early to mid-career ESA members who have obtained a Ph.D. within the last 20 years.

The 2023 EEE Scholars are conducting impactful research on a wide range of ecological communities and landscapes, and they are also active in community engagement initiatives. “These scholars are an incredibly driven and talented group, and we are excited to see what they accomplish as they continue to advance in their careers,” said ESA President Shahid Naeem.

Each scholar will receive an award of $5000 over two years. This funding will support their participation in speaking opportunities at ESA annual meetings or events, as well as research endeavors, family/childcare support, hosting webinars and covering publication fees in one of ESA’s open-access journals.

“In order to meet the environmental problem-solving challenges of the Anthropocene, ecologists must elevate the human dimension by broadening participation and perspectives in the practice of ecology. The ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholars program, now in its third cohort, supports career development of diverse ESA ecologists and promotes innovative research in social–ecological systems to address global environmental concerns,” said ESA Diversity Committee Chair Carmen Cid.

Meet the 2023 EEE Scholars

ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholars 2023Top row left to right: Drs. Sara Bombaci and Aidee Guzman. Bottom row left to right: Drs. Danielle Ignace and Lynette Strickland.

Dr. Sara Bombaci – is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. Her multidisciplinary research blends conservation science and social science to explore how ecological systems interact with social and environmental gradients in pursuit of innovative solutions to conserve biodiversity while meeting diverse human needs.  Her current research areas include acoustic ecology, urban ecology, community-centered conservation and human-wildlife interactions. Bombaci also has over a decade of experience conducting research, teaching and outreach to foster greater equity and inclusion in STEM. She received her master’s and PhD degrees at Colorado State University. She is a Latina Scientist, an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Ford Fellow, National Geographic Explorer and now an ESA Excellence in Ecology Scholar. 

Dr. Aidee Guzman– Dr. Aidee Guzman- is a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California-Irvine. She received her PhD in 2021 from the Univ. of California – Berkeley. She is an agroecologist who is motivated by the question: in a changing climate, how do we design agricultural landscapes that work for both the environment and people? She studies how agricultural management impacts biotic interactions, below- and above-ground, and ecosystem functioning. Her research also includes collaborations with social scientists to examine the socio-political drivers and barriers inherent within agricultural systems. The overall goal of her research is to support farmers – especially those who are historically underserved – through research, education, and outreach that builds on their innovations and demonstrates ecological pathways to agricultural resilience.

Dr. Danielle Ignace – is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and a Research Associate at Harvard Forest. She is a member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe and an ecophysiologist studying the impacts of climate change, fire and introduced species on ecosystem health and Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. As an advocate for underrepresented groups in science, she emphasizes Indigenous Knowledge and science communication in transdisciplinary projects. Always seeking ways to enhance diversity and inclusion, Ignace currently serves as an elected Officer for the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section of the Ecological Society of America and the Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the American Society of Plant Biologists. She is an Associate Editor for the journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, which is a trans-disciplinary, open-access journal committed to the facilitation of collaborative, peer-reviewed research. Fostering distinctive collaborations to understand and communicate pressing global change problems is the hallmark of her career in research, teaching, YouTube channel and ArtSci projects. As an Indigenous woman in STEM, Ignace is deeply committed to developing Indigenous curriculum and her unique perspective creates a bridge  between Indigenous communities and scientists.

 Dr. Lynette Strickland –  is an Assistant Professor at Boston University. She is interested in understanding the ecological and genomic mechanisms that contribute to and promote the maintenance of variation in natural populations. The focus of her work is on insect communities investigating the ecological and genomic mechanisms underlying extensive color variation across geographic populations of Neotropical tortoise beetles. Her research explores how color functions as an adaptive phenotype and how insects use color as tools for communication both within a species, such as in mate choice and across species as predator defenses. While her fondness for beetles led to her current research program, it is her identity as a Black/Mexican woman and a first generation student from a low-income neighborhood in Texas that fostered her need to question the structures and systems that hinder, or actively deter, Black, Indigenous and other scientists of color from thriving in academic settings. She dedicates the same amount of time to outreach, and publications related to DEIJ in STEM issues, as she does to her research related to the ecology and evolution of beetles.

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The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 9,000 member Society publishes six journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://esa.org.

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