FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 2/6/02 | Contact: Diana Smith, 719-389-6138  

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Dr. Jane Lubchenco, a Denver native and 1969 Colorado College graduate, has received the eighth annual $250,000 Heinz Award for the Environment.

Lubchenco, chair of the zoology department at Oregon State University, was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from Colorado College in 1993. That year, she launched the Sustainable Biosphere Project with funds from her MacArthur Fellowship. As a CC alumna, she was a charter trustee in 1994 and she participated in the 1993 CC Symposium “Defending the Earth.” She was one of 26 participants in the Ford Independent Study Program at CC from 1965 to 1969, when she graduated with a degree in biology.

She also has received grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Science Foundation. In 1994, she was the Oregon Scientist of the Year. Lubchenco was nominated by President Clinton to serve on the National Science Board in October 2000.

The Heinz award is for Lubchenco’s groundbreaking research on ocean ecosystems and intertidal communities, and her work to underscore the fragility of ocean resources and to establish the importance of creating marine reserves to preserve ocean habitats. Through the establishment of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, which she co-founded in 1998, she has been instrumental in helping to link sound scientific findings with public policy.

Lubchenco was awarded $250,000, and will receive her award at a private ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Visit the Heinz Awards web site for more on Lubchenco.