Grad Student Fanny Cornejo Wins Inaugural Indianapolis Award

Stony Brook College graduate pupil Fanny M. Cornejo has been named the winner of the newly-created “Rising Conservationist Award” introduced by the Indianapolis Prize. The award acknowledges skilled wildlife conservationists, biologists and scientists beneath 40 years of age who’re working to make strides in saving animal species from extinction.

Cornejo is a Peruvian primatologist, anthropologist and govt director of Yunkawasi, a company that works with Amazonian and Andean communities for the conservation of threatened species by sustainable financial growth and guarded space administration strategy. She was chosen from amongst 10 finalists and can obtain $50,000 offered by the Kobe Basis to proceed Yunkawasi’s conservation work.

Cornejo has devoted greater than 15 years to the conservation and analysis of the yellow-tailed woolly monkey, a primate species that solely inhabits the montane forests of Peru and is critically endangered because of human unsustainable actions which have generated the lack of over 80 % of its inhabitants. She shall be formally acknowledged because the 2023 Rising Conservationist on the Indianapolis Prize Gala introduced by Cummins Inc. in downtown Indianapolis on Sept. 30, 2023.

“I’m very honored and grateful for this recognition that’s not just for me, but in addition for my complete staff, the folks we work with, our companions in native communities, governments and our donors,” Cornejo stated. “Undoubtedly, being the primary winner of the Rising Conservationist Award and from a company as vital because the Indianapolis Prize is a good recognition for our work in Peru.”

Cornejo is a member of the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook College and works within the Pat Wright Lab, the place she focuses on the research of primates and large mammals, specializing in variety, ecological research in addition to conservation actions to guard forests and enhance the livelihoods of native and indigenous communities. Cornejo has additionally performed analysis on the black and white ruffed lemurs in Ranomafana Nationwide Park in Madagascar. Her graduate mentors are Distinguished Service Professor and Herrnstein Professor of Conservation Biology Patricia C. Wright — who gained the Indianapolis Prize in 2014 — and Liliana Dávalos, professor within the Division of Ecology and Evolution.

“Fanny lives and breathes conservation. Her power, her motivation and her success are a part of her very being,” stated Wright. “What a pleasure to listen to that her skills and laborious work have been acknowledged with this inaugural Rising Conservationist Prize. What an honor for Stony Brook and an honor for Peru!”

“Fanny was at all times a stand-out and it’s improbable, however not stunning, that her skills and contributions proceed to go above and past and to be acknowledged,” stated Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity Carl Safina.

“Fanny is main the subsequent technology of conservationists to guard nature and encourage folks to look after our world,” stated Indianapolis Zoological Society President and CEO Dr. Rob Shumaker. “The depth of accomplishments set her aside from the opposite nominees. I can’t wait to see the impression of her profession in conservation.”

The Rising Conservationist finalists had been chosen by a two-stage choice course of, the place a evaluate committee evaluated and narrowed the applying pool to 10 finalists. These finalists had been then evaluated by a range committee who selected Cornejo the winner.

The Indianapolis Prize acknowledges the world’s main conservationists whose work supplies future generations with replicable and actionable conservation practices. The finalists of the Rising Conservationists symbolize the folks we will depend on to save lots of species worldwide. Stony Brook College professor Russ Mittermeier joined Wright as an Indianapolis Prize winner in 2018.