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DECEMBER 2006 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools11Leila Hadley Luce & Milbry Polk Create“Wings” Celebrate Outstanding WomenBy Joan Baum, Ph.D.Combining the announcement of its 2007Women of Discovery Awards with updates by previousawardees, WINGS WorldQuest last monthshowed once again why, since its formation 13years ago, it has become the “leading resourceand advocate for women explorers world wide”and for science research and education. The celebratoryevent, which was held at The ExplorersClub, featured presentations by four remarkablewomen who continue to make their mark, goingwhere few have gone, pioneering new technologyand addressing ecological issues with professionalexpertise and artistic excellence. WINGSWorldQuest, whose mission is “to inspire womento explore their universe” by seeking “to identify,to research, to promote, and to celebrate the contributionsof extraordinary women explorers, inall areas / fields of study, around the world, fromall periods of history,” could not have asked formore articulate exemplars.The 2007 WINGS Women of Discovery winnersare: Constanza Ceruti, an intrepid Andeanhigh-altitude archaeologist, who won the LeilaHadley Luce Award for Courage, scaling volcanicsummits and discovering preserved mummies;Grace J. Gobbo, an ethnobiologist, who was honoredfor Field Research into medicine practices inTanzania; Erin Pettit, whose wilderness programfor high school students, “Girls on Ice,” gainedher the Earth Award; Terrie Williams, a marinebiologist, working on Antarctica’s Weddell sealsand the adverse effects of global warming; andJane Goodall, the world’s foremost authority onchimpanzees who now adds a WINGS’ LifetimeAchievement Award to her numerous honors. Allfive will all be acknowledged at the 5th AnnualWINGS Women of Discovery Awards presentationin March, to be hosted by actress UmaThurman (“The Producers,” “Pulp Fiction,” “KillBill” ). It was, however, the slide-show presentationsby past winners that was at the center of theExplorers Club evening—impressive testimonyto women who undertake challenging scientificresearch and commit themselves to advancingscience education.Introduced by Milbry Polk, Director of WINGSWorldQuest, the speakers, showing photos oftheir astonishing work, managed to convey withefficiency and passion what might be called theecological imperative—convincing the publicand powers that be of the immediate need tostrengthen efforts at preservation and conservationaround the globe. Carol Amore, who won the2003 Film and Exploration prize for her NationalGeographic film “The Ultimate Cat” and whowas sporting an attractive tiger cap, led off withtalk about her latest film, “Tigers: Tracking aLegend.” Explaining that she is taking her explorationinto a big-time exhibition phase becauseshe wants to connect with science centers aroundthe world and reach school children, she dazzledviewers with photos of imaginative, interactiveeducational activities. Though she traces her conversionto film to her first camera, which she gotat 16, she told Education Update that she wenton to study clinical psychology, happily affirmingher belief that women in science should beinvolved in “everything.”Just back from Beijing, Elizabeth Bennett, lastyear’s Courage Award winner for her conservationwork in Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state,elicited gasps from the audience with photos ofhow Chinese (as well as U.S.) legal and illegalMarilyn BridgesDr. Edie Widdertrade is depleting wild life, emptying forests of robiology and a newly minted MacArthuranimals large and small, and how collecting confirmingdata in cities and working on the problem with ORCA (Ocean Research & ConservationFellow, who won the 2006 Sea Award for workworldwide, through education and enforcement Association), delivered a stunning slide show ofprograms, is proving to be as risky as working in her ground-breaking work as an ocean explorerthe wild, maybe riskier.and conservationist, not to mention inventor, withMarilyn Bridges, whose unusual black and her “eye-in-the-sea” underwater camera system.white aerial photos of ancient sites in Greece With joyous enthusiasm, she spoke of her love ofand Turkey, many of which can be seen in her bioluminescence (true of over 80 percent of seanew book Flights Through Time and in major creatures), of her determination to act on commissionreports about dangers to the ocean (“we havecollections, and who won the 2003 CourageAward, certainly convinced the audience not such a short window left to do something”) and ofonly of her artistic and technical expertise but of her determination to bring a sense of the wondersher enterprising valor when she noted that she of the ocean to schoolchildren and get them tobecame a pilot (single-engine Cessna) in order to participate in scientific study, not just read aboutphotograph antiquities not generally seen and to it. Readers would be well advised to look up eachreinforce her own safety.awardee’s website and to seek out info aboutEdUpdate Finally, Dr. Ad Edie 100306 Widder, 10/3/06 a Ph.D. is 2:07 in neu-PM Page WINGS 1 at www.wingsworldquest.org. #A Timely New Resource for EducatorsExpand your skills in the classroom while increasing your earningpotential, with innovative and exciting professional developmentcourses at CUNY School of Professional Studies.Courses and certificate programs offered include:Literacy Leader Certificate ProgramMathematics Leadership Certificate ProgramCertificate in Disability StudiesCertificate in Interactive Technology & PedagogyOnline Science Education CoursesCreating Theatre with Young People CertificateDrama in the Classroom Certificate ProgramCertificate in Social Emotional and Academic EducationFor information on Spring and Summer class schedules, tuition and fees,course applications and to register, visit www.cuny.edu/sps,call 212.817.7255 or email spsinformation@gc.cuny.edu