SBU Graduate Student a Finalist for Indianapolis Prize Inaugural Emerging Conservationist Award | | SBU News

Fanny Cornejo Is One in all Ten College students Who Might Win $50,000 to Advance Her Work

Peruvian biologist Fanny Cornejo, a graduate pupil in Stony Brook College’s Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS), has been named one among ten finalists for the newly created Rising Conservationist Award from the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s main award for animal conservation. 

This inaugural award of $50,000 acknowledges skilled wildlife conservationists, biologists and scientists underneath 40 years of age working to make strides in saving animal species from extinction. The primary Rising Conservationist Award winner can be introduced in April 2023 and can be acknowledged on the 2023 Indianapolis Prize Gala on Sept. 30, 2023. 

Cornejo is a primatologist, anthropologist and director of Yunkawasi, a company that works with Amazonian and Andean communities for the conservation of threatened species by means of sustainable financial improvement and a protected space administration method. She can also be government director of the Rainforest Partnership in Peru, Yunkawasi’s strategic accomplice for conservation and sustainable improvement actions in Peru.

Cornejo’s school mentors within the School of Arts and Sciences are Distinguished Service Professor Patricia Wright, Herrnstein professor of conservation biology within the Division of Anthropology, and Professor Liliana Davalos, Division of Ecology and Evolution. Wright was awarded the Indianapolis Prize in 2014.

“Fanny is a superb scholar who put her information to work to save lots of the wildlife and communities of Peru,” stated Professor Patricia Wright. “She is a dynamic chief, an individual who works with governments in addition to native farmers. She impressed the federal government to mint a coin in honor of the critically endangered species she research.”

“The Rising Conservationist Award helps the subsequent era of conservationists who’re actively making a constructive distinction for the way forward for biodiversity,” stated Rob Shumaker, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc. “These finalists, together with all the prize honorees, share a deep dedication to defending nature and provoking folks to look after our world.”

The Indianapolis Prize acknowledges the world’s main conservationists whose work offers future generations with replicable and actionable conservation practices. The finalists of the Rising Conservationists signify the folks we will depend on to save lots of species world wide. Finalists have been chosen by means of a two-stage choice course of, the place a overview committee evaluated after which narrowed the applying pool to 10 finalists who’re then despatched to a variety committee to decide on a winner. 

In regards to the Indianapolis Prize

The Indianapolis Prize is a signature conservation initiative of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc. The Indianapolis Prize acknowledges and rewards conservationists who’ve achieved main victories in advancing the sustainability of an animal species or group of species. Winners obtain an unrestricted $250,000 award. Remaining finalists every obtain $50,000. Since 2006, the Indianapolis Prize has administered greater than $5 million in money awards.

Stony Brook College has an ongoing historical past with these necessary awards. Along with Professor Wright, Professor Russ Mittermeier obtained the award in 2018 and Professor Carl Safina was named a finalist in 2016.