WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — Pioneering ecologist Carmen Cid, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Eastern Connecticut State University, has been elected a 2017 Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The lifetime achievement award honors ESA members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of ecology — the study of how organisms interact with their environments — through research, education and outreach.
“My life’s work has focused on pioneering a multicultural urban ecology curriculum and implementing leadership programs to help recruit and retain undergraduate and graduate women and minorities in ecology,” said Cid. “Being elected by the ESA to its selective fellows community validates my work in ecology over the course of more than 30 years.
“When I started, there were few women in ecology and none from Latin America,” continued Cid. “I have worked to create bridges between cultures and the scientific field of ecology.”
Among Cid’s proudest achievements is the development of the Spanish/English curriculum “The Urban Ecologist,” which is part of the series “Wonderwise: Women in Science.” Used throughout the United States, Canada and the Philippines, the curriculum has become a standard in after-school programs, focused on engaging middle school-aged girls in the study of forest and wetland ecology.
At Eastern, Cid has also been a champion of experiential learning, engaging students in ecological field work in the Arboretum—Eastern’s on-campus nature preserve—and the nearby Church Farm Center for the Arts and Sciences. As both a professor and dean, she has used the principles of ecology to develop Eastern’s campus into a more sustainable setting, helping it to become nationally recognized by the Princeton Review as a “Green College” for the past seven years.
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“I am lucky to have worked for 30 years in a university that promotes the values and educational practices that are best for understanding how ecology affects society,” Cid said of Eastern.
She has been a member of the ESA for 39 years. Among her contributions, she was the founding chair of the ESA Women and Minorities Committee and developed the first strategic plan to improve the recruitment and retention of women and minorities in ecology. She is currently the committee chair of the ESA Commitment to Human Diversity Award — an award she won in 2012.
With a membership of more than 10,000, ESA selected Cid as one of only 27 fellows elected in 2017, and one of only three from New England. The organization choose Cid “For her ESA leadership and contributions enhancing ecology education outreach to diverse audiences, recruitment and retention of women and minorities in ecology, and applying ecological principles to improve undergraduate liberal arts education.”
The ESA fellows program was created in 2012 with the goal of honoring its members and supporting their competitiveness and advancement to leadership positions in the ESA, at their institutions and in the broader society. Past ESA Fellows are listed at http://www.esa.org/esa/about/esa-awards/esa-awards/esa-fellows-program/esa-fellows/.