Two faculty named Aldo Leopold Fellows

Two faculty members have been awarded 2005 Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowships.

Jonathan Patz, a professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and in the department of population health sciences; and Volker Radeloff, a professor in the department of forest ecology and management; are among 20 academic scientists nationwide to be awarded the prestigious fellowships.

Based at the Stanford Institute for the Environment, the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program provides scientists with intensive communications and leadership training to enhance their ability to communicate complex scientific information to non-scientific audiences, especially policy makers, the media, business leaders and the public. Twenty fellows are selected annually through a competitive application process.

The program was launched in 1998 and is named for Aldo Leopold, a renowned environmental scientist and UW–Madison professor of wildlife ecology 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.

Radeloff’s research focuses on causes, patterns, and consequences of landscape change, especially the effects of housing development on forests and biodiversity in the United States, and changes in land cover and wildlife habitat in Eastern Europe. Patz is a leading scholar on issues of climate and human health.