Pardon us while we brag a bit, but Center for Limnology professor, Emily Stanley, was just named a 2018 fellow by the Ecological Society of America and, well, we think that’s a pretty big deal!
In an announcement about the award, the ESA states Emily is being recognized for “the quality and importance of her contributions to ecology, for her ability to identify and lead new ecological frontiers, and for making connections across boundaries that continue to push our field forward.”
The accolade comes only a few months after she received the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.
With such riches of recognition, what more is there to say? Glad you asked. Here are a few other reasons we think Emily is amazing.
1. She’s kind of a big deal.
When Carl Zimmer, the New York Times’ peerless science writer, wants to ask big questions about rivers and streams and climate change who does he call? That’s right, Emily Stanley. And she sets the scene with this great quote. “We’re monkeying with the very chemical foundation of these ecosystems. But right now we don’t know enough yet to know where we’re going. To me, scientifically that’s really interesting, and as a human a little bit frightening.” In there journalism biz that right there is what we call “gold.”
2. She has a need for speed.
Normally, collecting lots of data on lots of lakes is a tedious, time consuming pursuit – enough to take the fun out of being on the water in a boat. But not in the Stanley Lab – birthplace of FLAMe. This awesome acronym stands for “Fast Limnology Automated Measurements” and, well, we have to think it makes a buoy just bobbing in one place a little jealous. Why anchor all of your scientific instrumentation in one place when you can strap it to the back of a boat, put the throttle down and speed around for science?
3. She’s a great mentor and teacher. And hilarious.
No one should really ever head to ratemyprofessor.com unless they enjoy listening to disgruntled students gripe about how “hard” learning is. That said, amid the complaints one word in Emily Stanley’s reviews is said again and again – “hilarious.” One example: “Stanley is really funny. She manages to make what would be some of the world’s most painfully boring lectures tolerable.” Okay, on second thought, forget that example.*
But, still, she does have a great sense of humor and, even better, is an amazing mentor for early career scientists. Don’t take our word for it, here are a couple testimonials:
So there you go, three more reasons that Emily Stanley is more than deserving of all of the accolades that come her way!
*Yes, that was a real comment from a real student. Again, just ignore ratemyprofessor.com!