Ariana Sutton-Grier is the 2019 Young Investigator Award recipient. The award includes a certificate of recognition, a $5,000 honorarium, and an invitation to present a lecture at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting.
Sutton-Grier a visiting associate research professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is an ecosystem ecologist with expertise in wetland ecology and restoration, biodiversity, biogeochemistry, climate change, and ecosystem services.
She holds honors bachelor degrees from Oregon State University in environmental science and international studies and a doctoral degree from Duke University in ecology. Her research interests include the relationships between nature/biodiversity and human health, coastal blue carbon, and natural and nature-based coastal resilience strategies. A former Smithsonian Fellow and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Sutton-Grier also was selected as an Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in 2015 and one of her papers won the ESA 2016 “Innovations in Sustainability Science” award. She gets especially excited about seeking and discovering innovative opportunities to combine science and policy to solve environmental problems and promote ecosystem conservation.
Sutton-Grier has authored over 40 publications in many environmental and policy journals and her research has been featured in several news stories, as well as a children’s science TV show. See more at her website: suttongrier.org