{{Short description|American biologist}} {{Infobox person | name = Eleanor Sterling | birth_date = {{Birth date|1960|10|03}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|02|11|1960|10|03}} | death_place = Oahu, Hawaii | alma_mater = Yale University | employer = American Museum of Natural History | awards = Wilbur Cross Medal, Fred M. Packard Award }}
'''Eleanor Sterling''' (October 3, 1960 – February 11, 2023) was an conservationist and biologist. She was the director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History and also became the director of Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa (UHM).<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |title=In memoriam: Dr. Eleanor Sterling |url=https://www.amnh.org/research/center-for-biodiversity-conservation/in-memoriam-dr-eleanor-sterling |access-date=September 26, 2023 |newspaper=American Museum of Natural History}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Sterling was born on October 3, 1960, in Massachusetts, and was raised in Davis, California, with her sister and two brothers.<ref name=":1" /> She attended Yale University and graduated with her B.A. in Psychology and Biology in 1983.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Eleanor Sterling |url=https://humansandnature.org/eleanor-sterling/ |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=Humans and Nature}}</ref> As an undergraduate at Yale, she studied under anthropologist Alison Richard and performed with the senior SSAA a cappella group, Whim 'n Rhythm.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Anusewicz |first=Josh |date=October 3, 2018 |title=Eleanor Sterling Recognized with F&ES Distinguished Alumni Award |url=https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/sterling-the-essence-of-interdisciplinarity-honored-by-yale-fes |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=Yale School of the Environment}}</ref> Sterling received two higher degrees from Yale, a Masters of Philosophy in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Forestry in 1993. Her thesis work at Yale focused on the behavioral ecology of the aye-aye and she continued to study as a Peace Corps trainer in Madagascar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2000 |title=Aye-Aye - Eleanor Sterling |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kalahari/ayeaye.html |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=PBS Nova}}</ref>
== Career == Immediately after graduating from her undergraduate program at Yale, Sterling worked for the San Diego Zoo and the World Wildlife Fund, where she first became interested in the aye-aye.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Being a Conservation Biologst: Eleanor Sterling |url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/biodiversity/being-a-conservation-biologist-eleanor-sterling |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=AMNH: Oology}}</ref> Throughout the 1990s, she served as a trainer and consultant for the Peace Corps for several years, primarily working in Madagascar and Comoros. She was a visiting researcher at Duke University in 1992 and at the American Museum of Natural History in 1993, where she would return in 1996 as a Program Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC). In 2000, she became the director of the CBC. From 2014 to 2021, Sterling served as the Jaffe Chief Conservation Scientist at the museum, where her work spanned the globe, including countries like Bolivia, Vietnam, and The Bahamas.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=February 6, 2023 |title=Outstanding conservationists honoured by IUCN |url=https://www.iucn.org/press-release/202302/outstanding-conservationists-honoured-iucn#:~:text=She%20received%20the%20Fred%20Packard,the%20heart%20of%20conservation%20practice. |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources}}</ref> While at the AMNH, she founded the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, mentored students in the Richard Gilder Graduate School, and curated five exhibitions on topics such as global food systems, Pinta Island tortoises, and China's Yunnan Province.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Eleanor Sterling |url=https://manoa.hawaii.edu/biocultural/sterling/ |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific (University of Hawa'i at Manoa)}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=September 26, 2016 |title=Conservation Scientist Eleanor Sterling Recognized with Two Awards |url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/conservation-scientist-eleanor-sterling-receives-two-awards |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=American Museum of Natural History}}</ref> She also founded the New York Women in Natural Sciences Chapter of the Association for Women in Sciences, where she helped develop the Untold Stories in Conservation and Natural History project to highlight underrepresented individuals in the field.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Fortis |first=Bianca |date=April 3, 2018 |title=Women of Discovery: Q&A With Eleanor Sterling |url=https://www.wingsworldquest.org/blog/2018/3/30/women-of-discovery-eleanor-sterling |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=WINGS WorldQuest}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Leadership |url=https://www.winsny.org/ |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=NY Women in Natural Sciences}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://untoldstories.net/about/ |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=Untold Stories: Living and Working With Nature}}</ref>
Sterling was also a founding member of the Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology Department at Columbia University, and served as an adjunct professor there as well as the Director of Graduate Studies from 2002 to 2012.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling (1960-2023) - In Memoriam |url=https://e3b.columbia.edu/dr-eleanor-j-sterling-1960-2023-in-memoriam/ |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=Columbia University E3B|date=16 February 2023 }}</ref>
Sterling's early work on the aye-aye established her as a leading expert on the species, and her later research focused on the behavioral ecology of endangered species, including sea turtles in the Palmyra Atoll and Giant Galápagos Tortoises.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 2012 |title=Profile: Eleanor Sterling |url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/research-and-collections/profile-eleanor-sterling |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=American Museum of Natural History}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":2" /> She authored and co-authored over 200 publications, including the first published guide to flora and fauna in Vietnam published in 2006, ''Vietnam: A Natural History''.<ref name=":1" /> Sterling was also the editor of ''Lessons in Conservation'', the journal of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, and served on the Board of Directors for the Center for Humans and Nature.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 4, 2019 |title=Eleanor Sterling |url=https://cshlwise.org/wise-wednesdays/eleanor-sterling/ |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Women in Science and Engineering}}</ref>
Sterling was involved with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Nature Resources (IUCN), most notably serving as the deputy vice chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas, where she helped to develop a Strategic Framework for Capacity Development.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=February 22, 2023 |title=The Eleanor J. Sterling Fund for HIMB |url=https://www.uhfoundation.org/give/giving-opportunity/eleanor-j-sterling-fund-himb |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=University of Hawai'i Foundation}}</ref> From 2018 to 2022, she also served on the Board of Directors of Island Conservation, and as chair of the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 16, 2023 |title=Remembering Dr. Eleanor Sterling, Inspiring Conservation Biologist and Former Island Conservation Board Member |url=https://www.islandconservation.org/remembering-dr-eleanor-sterling-inspiring-conservation-biologist-and-former-island-conservation-board-member/ |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=Island Conservation}}</ref>
In 2022, she became the director of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.<ref name=":8" /> After her death in 2023, her friends established a fund for the institute in her honor.<ref name=":8" />
== Personal life and death == While working for the Peace Corps in Madagascar, Sterling met Kevin Frey, another volunteer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Jane |date=August 16, 2002 |title=Public Lives: How to Say Lemur and Quidditch in 11 Languages |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/16/nyregion/public-lives-how-to-say-lemur-and-quidditch-in-11-languages.html |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> They married in 1996. In November 2022, Sterling was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died on February 11, 2023, in Oahu.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":8" />
== Awards ==
In 2012, she received the Graduate Student Advisory Council Faculty Mentoring Award from Columbia University.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Timothy |title=Conservationist Eleanor Sterling Award Yale's Prestigious Wilbur Cross Medal |url=https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/conservationist-eleanor-sterling-awarded-yales-prestigious-wilbur-cross-medal |access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=Yale School of the Environment|date=21 September 2016 }}</ref> In 2013, she received a Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Conservation Biology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 26, 2013 |title=CBC Director Honored for Conservation Work |url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/cbc-director-honored-for-conservation-work |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=American Museum of Natural History}}</ref> In 2016, Yale University awarded her the Wilbur Cross Medal.<ref name=":0" /> She also received the Award for Meritorious Research from IUCN's Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy in 2016.<ref name=":6" /> In 2018, she was awarded Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Alumni Award,<ref name=":3" /> as well as the Women of Discovery Humanity Award and a WINGS World Quest award.<ref name=":7" /> Six days before her death in 2023, she was awarded the Fred Packard Award from IUCN.<ref name=":4" />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Eleanor}} Category:1960 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century American women scientists Category:American biologists Category:American conservationists Category:Biologists from Massachusetts Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Hawaii Category:Peace Corps people Category:People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Category:People from Massachusetts Category:Scientists from Massachusetts Category:American women biologists Category:Conservationists Category:Yale University alumni