Advancing Science through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
By Kathleen Weathers, Pamela Templer, and Catherine O’Riordan “To fulfill ESA’s mission to advance the science and practice of ecology, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color must be fully supported throughout their careers.” -DEIJ Task Force Recommendations At its November 2020 meeting, the Governing Board of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) unanimously endorsed the recommendations submitted by the Task Force on...
New Features Added to ESA Certification
This post was provided by Carmen Cid, Chair of the ESA Board of Professional Certification. The Ecological Society of America has been validating the credentials of professional ecologists through our certification program for nearly 40 years. Beginning in 2021, we aim to take the program to a new level. Hundreds of environmental scientists—working in all sectors from consulting to government to education—have gained certification by...
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice – Let’s Get to Work
“If you don’t have diverse representation in positions of power and authority to make change, how can you expect real change?”
Participant, ESA Listening Session on DEIJ Action Steps October 7, 2020
Let’s Close the Year Strong
by Kathleen Weathers, ESA President It’s rather remarkable to realize that it was almost two months ago that we were immersed in the grand experiment of an all-virtual annual meeting. While there were certainly some hiccups along the way, the staff and meetings committees did a remarkable job making an 180o pivot with panache, as did meeting attendees. With almost 4,000 registrants from 53 countries, we were launched into new ways of...
Nominate a colleague for an ESA award
by Charles Nilon, ESA Awards Committee Chair October is upon us and autumn is in full swing. It’s the season of turning leaves, crisp air … and ESA award nominations! And as the chair of ESA’s Awards Committee, I want to make sure that we all enjoy this season together and celebrate outstanding work (and outstanding people) in ecology by nominating those deserving colleagues among us for awards. Ask yourself: Do I personally know of...
Time for Action: ESA initiates a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) task force
Racism and prejudice continue to harm communities of color. ESA stands firm in its commitment to challenge and break down inequities in our community of scientists and practitioners of ecology. Today, we reach out to you with an update towards fulfilling the commitment made in the June 2020 letter to the community. At that time, ESA pledged to redouble its efforts to make Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) evident in all...
ESA as a channel of communication between its members and NSF
by Osvaldo Sala, ESA President One of the central roles of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) is to represent its members in front of different bodies at the national and international levels. While single voices face difficulties in reaching target audiences, communications are enhanced when articulated through a professional society. ESA plays the double role of not only communicating ideas from our membership to other...
ESA moving forward and going virtual
by Osvaldo Sala, President, and Catherine O’Riordan, Executive Director One of the strengths of the ESA organization is the ability to adapt to challenges in our programs and in our science. Like most other organizations responding to the pandemic, ESA moved to virtual operations in March and the DC office is temporarily closed. Staff continues to work from home while also facing some of the difficulties that our members face,...
Letter to the community
Dear ecological community, We reach out to you today in sadness and solidarity. Recent acts of violence against the Black community as seen in the horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, have sparked protests across the United States. They underscore the long history of racism and discrimination in our country. Racism and prejudice continue to harm scientists, future scientists, and the communities they...
ESA 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting
Dear ESA Member, ESA will be holding a totally virtual Annual Meeting this year from August 3–6 in response to the pandemic. The virtual meeting will provide an opportunity for you to join colleagues and leaders from across the field for four days of inspiration and community focused on your research and your career as each of us looks ahead to the future. While we will miss seeing you in person, we are excited that the meeting will...
Looking ahead to #ESA2021
Join ESA
The Ecological Society of America is a community of 9,000 scientists, researchers, decision makers, policy managers, and educators who are dedicated to understanding life on earth. We are an advocate for ecology and a voice for ecologists. ESA strengthens connections within and outside our community to support your work and promotes ecological science. As our discipline expands its boundaries with new ideas, new experimental tools, and the recruitment of young scientists, we hope you will join us!