Evelyn Valdez-Ward

Evelyn Valdez-Ward is a scientist, science communicator, adjunct professor, and immigration activist living in the US. She is known for her activism related to DACA as a formerly undocumented scientist. Valdez-Ward has published articles advocating for social justice and immigration rights in the sciences in journals including Science, Scientific American, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Education Valdez-Ward is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Metcalf Institute at the University of Rhode Island. She is currently developing a training curriculum and evaluation for faculty of color in science communication on Metcalf's newest initiative, the SciComm Identities Project, in collaboration with the Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

Valdez-Ward obtained an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine, in 2022. Her doctoral dissertation research focused on the impact of California's drought on interactions between plants and soil microbes, as well as on how to create inclusive communities in the field of science communication. Her doctoral research was advised by Kathleen Treseder and Travis Huxman.

Scientific career Valdez-Ward is a co-founder and executive director of the Reclaiming STEM Institute, a science communication and science policy training workshop and lecture series founded in 2018. The institute aims to build community, capacity, and power for and with scientists across diverse and historically marginalized communities. The goal of the workshops is to help scientists learn to use STEM for social justice. Reclaiming STEM has been partially funded by a grant from the American Geophysical Union. She learned that she was undocumented while applying for college.

Valdez-Ward was also a speaker at the 2018 March for Science in Washington, D.C. In 2018, she was named a Science Defender by the Union of Concerned Scientists because of her activism.

Honors and awards Switzer Foundation Fellowship, 2020-2021 Mass Media Fellowship, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020 Annual List Of 50 Fixers, Grist 50, 2020 Science Communication Best in Practice Award, Ecological Society of America, 2020 Diversity Fellowship, National Association of Science Writers, 2020 Latino Excellence and Achievement Reward for Excellence in Research Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 2016-2019 Science Defender, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2018 Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, UC Irvine, 2016