CALL FOR APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR 2005 ALDO LEOPOLD LEADERSHIP FELLOWSHIPS

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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS OPEN

FOR 2005 ALDO LEOPOLD LEADERSHIP FELLOWSHIPS

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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS OPEN

FOR 2005 ALDO LEOPOLD LEADERSHIP FELLOWSHIPS

Communications Training Opportunity for Academic Environmental Scientists

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, Feb. 5 -/E-Wire/-- A program that provides a unique opportunity for academic environmental scientists to participate in intensive communications and leadership training is now accepting applications for up to 20 fellowships in 2005.

The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program was launched in 1998 with the goal of improving the flow of accurate, credible scientific information to policy makers, the media and the public by training outstanding academic environmental scientists to be better communicators of complex scientific information. Eighty scientists have been selected as Fellows since 1999.

Mid-career environmental scientists in tenured or tenure-track positions who are active in teaching and research at an academic institution in Canada, Mexico or the United States are eligible to apply. The deadline for applications is April 19, 2004. Complete details are available at program's web site, www.leopoldleadership.org.

"Academic scientists typically communicate their new findings through scientific publications or professional scientific society meetings -- in other words, to other researchers who share a common scientific language and framework," said Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University who co-founded the program and co-chairs the steering committee. "It is increasingly important for scientists be able to communicate effectively to non-scientists, such as legislators, journalists, business leaders and citizens."

"Environmental scientists have valuable knowledge that should be available to citizens and policy makers as they make choices about the future of our planet and our communities. It is vitally important to all of us that scientists be able to provide accurate information in plain language and in the context of everyday life to those who are determining our environmental policies and practices," Lubchenco added.

Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows participate in intensive training that takes place in two separate one week sessions and features "hands on," interactive modules led by media and policy specialists, leading scientists, business leaders and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The training focuses on how to communicate scientific information effectively to non-scientific audiences in terms they can understand and use.

Past Leopold Leadership Fellows report that the training has made a huge difference in their ability to present their work to non-scientific audiences.

"Prior to the [Leopold Leadership] training, it would never have occurred to me to entertain media interviews or write press releases on my research," said Ann Kinzig, assistant professor in the department of biology at Arizona State University and a 2000 Leopold Leadership Fellow. After completing the training and feeling more comfortable about interacting with the media, Kinzig issued a press release on her research on birds in urban parks. The result was numerous news articles in local, national and international publications and international radio coverage in Scotland, England, Canada, Australia, and Japan as well as the U.S.

"This is important not for the exposure it gives me, but to remind people that there is nature worth caring about in their own backyards, and to remind other scientists that the ecology of human-dominated ecosystems is worthy of research," Kinzig said.

The program is named for Aldo Leopold, a renowned environmental scientist who communicated his scientific knowledge simply and eloquently. His writings, including his 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, are credited with infusing the emerging conservation movement with good science and a stewardship ethic.

The program is funded by a major grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Jane Lubchenco and Diana Wall, professor and director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University and a 1999 Leopold Leadership Fellow, serve as co-chairs of the steering committee, which oversees the program and the selection of the fellows through a competitive application process.

For more information about the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, including information about applying for a fellowship and biographical information about past Fellows, visit www.leopoldleadership.org or contact Marion Smith, Program Coordinator at [REDACTED-EMAIL].

Aldo Leopold Leadership Program

Cynthia Barakatt, [REDACTED-PHONE]

Cynthia Robinson, [REDACTED-PHONE]

http://www.leopoldleadership.org

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