Suzanne Pierre

Suzanne Pierre
Born	Somerset, New Jersey, U.S.
🏫 Education	New York University (BA) Cornell University (PhD)
💼 Occupation
Known for	Ecosystems ecologist and biogeochemist, founder and lead investigatory of the nonprofit Critical Ecology Lab
🌐 Website	www.suzannepierre.com

Suzanne Pierre is an American ecosystems ecologist and biogeochemist who has been a National Geographic Explorer since 2023. She founded and directs the Critical Ecology Lab, a nonprofit organization that aims to look at how human behavior and power dynamics influence ecosystems and the environment.

Early life and education

Pierre grew up in Somerset, New Jersey. She says that as a child, she enjoyed playing in soil and was fascinated by how everything in nature was connected. Pierre received her interdisciplinary B.A. in environmental studies at New York University, followed by doctoral research in ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. Subsequently, she undertook a postdoctoral position as a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

Pierre is lead investigator and researcher of the Critical Ecology Lab, with interdisciplinary approaches investigating how colonialism, capitalism, and unequal power dynamics affect both people and the environment. She is a National Geographic Explorer, and a 2022 National Geographic Wayfinder Award recipient.

Research

The Critical ecology lab began operations in winter 2020 with the assistance of fellow critical ecologist Kunal Palawat. Pierre founded the non-profit lab in order to better study the intersection between social injustices and ecology, with the hopes of mitigating inequalities and environmental crisis brought on by climate change and oppressive systems. Pierre is researching how the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism affected Caribbean ecosystems and soil composition with Em Whalen.

Other activities

Pierre has collaborated with artists and activists for museum exhibits, and has also appeared in podcasts, interviews and speaking events. Pierre wrote two essays for MOLD magazine, appearing on issues 05 and 03 titled "Seeding Viable Futures" and "Designing Soil". On April 15, 2021 Pierre gave a talk at the Carrie Institute on critical ecology, and on 23 August 2022, Pierre appeared on the Ologies podcast by science communicator Allie Ward.

In 2022, Pierre collaborated with and advised artist Miriam Szwast at the Museum Ludwig to create "Green Modernism: The New View of Plants", in which the history of how plants were displayed in art throughout the early twentieth century. Pierre also collaborated with the California Academy of Sciences in 2021, where she was appointed a 2021 Osher Fellow. There, she offered expertise on relationships between nature, society and art and helped develop a virtual exhibit funded by the ASTC's IF/THEN Gender Equity Project.

Pierre spends time teaching people of color how to integrate critical ecology into their work and research through educational programs led by the Critical Ecology Lab such as the Eco-Afro Futures Initiative and the Liberation Ecology Field Course.

Selected publications

• Pierre, Suzanne; Groffman, Peter M.; Killilea, Mary E.; Oldfield, Emily E. (2016). "Soil microbial nitrogen cycling and nitrous oxide emissions from urban afforestation in the New York City Afforestation Project". Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 15: 149–154. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2015.11.006. ISSN 1618-8667.
• Pierre, S.; Hewson, I.; Sparks, J. P.; Litton, C. M.; Giardina, C.; Groffman, P. M.; Fahey, T. J. (July 2017). "Ammonia oxidizer populations vary with nitrogen cycling across a tropical montane mean annual temperature gradient". Ecology. 98 (7): 1896–1907. Bibcode:2017Ecol...98.1896P. doi:10.1002/ecy.1863. ISSN 0012-9658. PMID 28419436.
• Ryals, Rebecca; Bischak, Elena; Porterfield, Katherine K.; Heisey, Steven; Jeliazovski, Julie; Kramer, Sasha; Pierre, Suzanne (2021). "Toward Zero Hunger Through Coupled Ecological Sanitation-Agriculture Systems". Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.716140. ISSN 2571-581X.
• Pierre, Suzanne; Litton, Creighton M.; Giardina, Christian P; Sparks, Jed P.; Fahey, Timothy J. (September 2020). "Mean annual temperature influences local fine root proliferation and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in a tropical wet forest". Ecology and Evolution. 10 (18): 9635–9646. Bibcode:2020EcoEv..10.9635P. doi:10.1002/ece3.6561. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 7520179 . PMID 33005336 .

Awards

Pierre and The Critical Ecology Lab received the 2021 Osher Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences in 2021, where they developed a virtual exhibit funded by the ASTC's IF/THEN Gender Equity Project. The Critical Ecology Lab also received funding from the Wallace Foundation in 2021 as part of a National Arts Research Initiative, in which $2.8 million was donated to 11 organizations that support communities of color. In 2022, Pierre received the National Geographic Wayfinder award, and has been a National Geographic explorer since 2023.

External links

• Dr. Suzanne Pierre official site

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