91丝瓜视频

The 91丝瓜视频 School of Environment is pleased to host Nalini Nadkarni, 鈥渢he queen of forest canopy research鈥�. Her work relates directly to three of the most pressing environmental issues of our time:听the maintenance of biodiversity,听the stability of world climate, and the sustainability of forests.

For three decades, she has climbed trees on four continents, using mountain-climbing techniques, construction cranes, walkways, and hot air balloons to explore the world of animals and plants that live in the treetops. In 1994 she realized that there was no central database for storing and analyzing the research she was gathering, so she invented one. This state-of-the-art repository, called the Big Canopy Database, is credited with speeding cross-disciplinary collaboration just as a common database revolutionized the mapping of the human genome.

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Nalini Nadkarni is known for using nontraditional pathways to raise awareness of nature鈥檚 importance, working with artists, dancers, musicians, and even loggers. Her most recent project, funded by the Washington State Department of Corrections, engages scientists and prisoners in collaboration to carry out research projects in conservation and restoration biology. Inmates have raised endangered frogs, prairie plants, and butterflies, which are then released from captivity to the wild, giving prisoners rare access to nature, as well as a sense of accomplishment and connection to doing something good. In recognition of this work and more, she was a recipient of the National Science Board鈥檚 鈥淧ublic Service Award鈥� this year, which honors an individual that has made substantial contributions in increasing public understanding of science in the United States.