SOLS Professor Nancy Grimm Ecological Society of America’s New President
Dr. Nancy B. Grimm, a professor of Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Sciences at Arizona State University School of Life Sciences and Co-Director of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Project (CAP LTER), is the Ecological Society of America’s President for 2005-2006.
Elected by the members of ESA for a one-year term, Nancy Grimm presides over more than 9,000 members in the United States and internationally. The Society, considered the country's premier professional organization of ecologists, was founded in 1915 to stimulate sound ecological research.
“Ecological science and the expertise of ecologists are ever more critical to the solution of environmental and societal problems. As we enter an era of more collaborative, interdisciplinary, and relevant ecology, I hope the Ecological Society of America can help to build a capacity and a community for addressing the challenges we face at local, regional, and global scales. Capacity and community entail not only continued dedication to advancing ecological science, but also attention to our relationships with other disciplines, to engagement with decision makers, and to ensuring diversity and quality in the next generation of ecologists,” says Nancy Grimm.
An important goal of the Society is to promote, clarify and communicate the science of ecology through reports, journals, research and expert testimony to Congress. The Society encourages members to responsibly apply their research and ecological expertise to public issues through education and public interaction. Members conduct research relevant to challenges such as habitat alteration, natural resource management, loss of biological diversity, ecosystem management, ozone depletion and global climate change, sustainable ecological systems, ecological restoration, and biotechnology.
Grimm received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University (ASU) in 1985. She has held research scientist and faculty positions at ASU since 1990. Her interests focus on the structure and function of ecosystems in arid lands. She directed ASU’s Undergraduate Mentorship in Environmental Biology program for five years, and has served on numerous advisory panels and review teams for the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.
As Principal Investigator and Co-Director of CAP LTER – an ecological study of the Phoenix metropolitan area – Grimm oversees and coordinates interdisciplinary research in urban ecology involving over 100 scientists in more than ten departments.
Grimm’s current research focus is on the cycling and retention of the element nitrogen, both in urban and stream-riparian ecosystems. Nitrogen is an important element because it limits productivity of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Southwest, is a potential groundwater pollutant, some gaseous forms of nitrogen are potent greenhouse gases, and nitrogen inputs to the Earth from the atmosphere have increased dramatically.
More information on Dr. Grimm and her research can be found in the links below.