We support innovative people working in field-based science, art and craft, teaching and protection of the natural world.

Working with lizards to better understand how species adapt and evolve, James Stroud studies natural selection in the field and explores how ecological and evolutionary processes at the microscale may shape biodiversity at the macroscale.

Imani Black is the founder and executive director of Minorities in Aquaculture, a nonprofit expanding representation in sustainable seafood. A leader in workforce development and environmental advocacy, she builds pathways for underrepresented communities while advancing inclusive aquaculture practices that strengthen ecosystems, local economies and future generations of marine science leaders.

An enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe, Teri Greeves has been beading since she was eight years old and today has work in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the British Museum and the collection of the State of New Mexico, among others.

Chef and activist Valerie Erwin works at the intersection of food and culture. She was among the first chefs to popularize Gullah Geechee foods on a menu, and her groundbreaking Geechee Girl Rice Cafe encouraged chefs, writers and historians to explore these culinary traditions.

Raimundo Espinoza founded Conservación ConCiencia to support local fishers with science-driven practices to improve marine ecosystems, food sovereignty and economic resilience in Puerto Rico. Conservación ConCiencia training on sustainability practices will ensure the ocean remains a renewable food source for future generations.

Chef BJ Dennis is one of the only cultural preservationists of Gullah and Geechee foodways — cultures that are disappearing because of gentrification, land loss and environmental challenges. He’s worked as a bridge between the Gullah community and the global restaurant community.

Robert K. Mills is a Tlingit artist of the Tsaagweidi clan from Kake, Alaska. Working in metal, paint and wood, Mills’ art is deeply rooted in the traditions of his ancestors and pioneering new expressions for future generations.

Field research is vital to the work of Natalia Llopis Monferrer because the delicate organisms she studies, Rhizaria, can’t be grown in labs. Researching them helps us better understand silica-cycling in marine ecosystems.

Dune Lankard, an Eyak Athabaskan leader and founder of Native Conservancy, advances Indigenous-led regenerative ocean farming to restore ecosystems and strengthen food sovereignty. Through initiatives like Native Sea Trust, Community Kelp Seed Nursery and Native Kelp Cooperative, he strives to empower Alaska Native communities to steward ocean resources and ancestral foodways.

Anusha Shankar focuses her research on how animals manage and balance their time and energy and how they respond to environmental differences, such as across elevation, rural-urban gradients or warming temperatures resulting from climate change.

A freshwater ecologist, Rachel Malison combines fieldwork with laboratory experiments, monitoring and community outreach to understand how aquatic ecosystems function — and how to protect them. Growing up in the wild landscapes of northern Idaho inspired her lifelong interest in river systems. After earning her Ph.D., Malison received the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship to conduct ecological research in Norway for three years. She returned to Montana to work where her passion for rivers, biodiversity and hands-on science took root at the Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) during her undergraduate field courses.

Maria Gonzalez and Rudy Jimenez, partners of Green Thumb Farms on California’s Central Coast, grow sustainable produce, support a multi-faceted network of community organizations, and are committed to health, value, education, and intergenerational resilience.

Jolie Ngo explores the intersection of craft, technology and community. Working from her studio in Santa Barbara, Calif., Ngo expands the boundaries of ceramic art through a multifaceted and playfully subversive approach, stripping away the seriousness often associated with clay traditions and forging a new conceptual and experimental path.

Fidisoa Rasambainarivo strives to understand the ecological drivers of infectious diseases within populations and ecosystems. He focuses on how habitat degradation, as well as human and animal interactions, are changing the patterns of pathogen transmission across geographical and ecological boundaries in Madagascar. Research in his lab at East Carolina University examines interactions between human, animal and environmental health — a concept known as One Health — to inform policies and promote both public health and biodiversity conservation.

Kevin Aspaas is a Navajo textile and fiber artist. Known for his work with the Navajo wedge weave technique, Aspaas practices a process he calls “sheep to loom.” The process involves gathering and spinning wool from the small flock of Navajo-Churro sheep he raises in Shiprock, NM.

Neal Thomas was born on April 22, 1940, in Raeford, N.C. While working in the timber industry in the late 1950s, Thomas met an elder African American woodworker named Herman Holder, who shared with him the art and skill of making split white oak baskets. At 85, he can “drop trees on a dime” and fashion split white oak baskets with the dexterity and strength of a 20-year-old.