Claire Kremen is an American conservation biologist. She is a professor of conservation biology at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

, having formerly worked at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where she remains professor emerita.

Early life and education

Kremen graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biology in 1982, and from Duke University with a PhD in Zoology in 1987.

Career

Upon completing her PhD, Kremen spent 10 years working for nonprofit organizations in conservation biology. She studied the impacts of

Deforestation in Madagascar Deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing environmental issue. Deforestation creates agricultural or pastoral land but can also result in desertification, water resource degradation, biodiversity erosion and habitat loss, and soil loss. It has ...

, on species distributions with a Web-based biodiversity database. Kremen eventually returned to North American and accepted a faculty position at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

for four years before becoming a professor of environmental science, policy and management at

(UC Berkeley). During her early tenure at UC Berkeley, Kremen also served as a member on the Committee on Status of Pollinators where she led the first global study on crop production that is reliant upon animal pollination. In recognition of her research, she was named a 2007 MacArthur Fellows Program, which came with an unrestricted $500,000 award for the next five years. In the same year, Kremen was also awarded a Hellman Fellowship from the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

for her project "How does Biological Diversity Promote Ecosystem Services: a Mechanistic Study of Almond Crop Pollination in a Changing California Landscape." As an associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, Kremen led a study in 2011 which concluded that farmers could become more cost-efficient if they relied less on renting honey bees. In recognition of her academic achievements, Kremen was elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 2013 and appointed Editor in Chief of the journal ''Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.'' In 2019, Kremen left UC Berkeley to become one of the first

(UBC) President’s Excellence Chair in Biodiversity Studies at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. While serving in this role, she was awarded an honorary degree from the American Museum of Natural History in "recognition of her extraordinary contributions to science, education and society." In 2020, Kremen was the recipient of the

Volvo Environment Prize The Volvo Environment Prize is an annual international award originating in Sweden. The prize is awarded to individuals who "''explore the way to a sustainable world''." The prize is awarded by the independent foundation ''The Volvo Environment P ...

for "exploring the way to a sustainable world."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kremen, Claire 1960 births Stanford University alumni Duke University alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Natural Resources faculty MacArthur Fellows Living people 21st-century American biologists American conservationists American women environmentalists Academic journal editors Academic staff of the University of British Columbia American women academics 21st-century American women