Michelle Nearon (right), senior associate dean for graduate student development and diversity at Yale, bestows YSE Professor Dorceta Taylor with Bouchet Leadership Medal. Photo: Jonathan Olson
Dorceta Taylor Awarded 2025 Bouchet Leadership Medal
In recognition of her outstanding leadership in her academic field and impact as a role model to students and environmental researchers, Dorceta Taylor, the Wangari Maathai Professor of Environmental Justice at the Yale School of the Environment, was honored with the Bouchet Leadership Medal during the Annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Graduate Education on April 5, 2025. This year’s conference focused on “Environmental Justice: The Intersection of Climate Change and Social Equity.”
Taylor ’85 MFS,’91 PhD has dedicated her research and scholarship in the environmental field to the intersection of race, class, and justice. She is the author of pioneering studies on institutional diversity and workforce dynamics and has published numerous books examining connections between racial segregation and exposure to environmental hazards.
The Bouchet medal is named for Edward Alexander Bouchet, who graduated from Yale College in 1874 and became the first African American to earn a doctorate at an American university when he received his PhD in physics from Yale in 1876.
In her keynote address, Taylor discussed Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership role at the intersection of civil rights and environmental justice, noting that he was at the forefront of addressing environmental justice issues such as equal use of space in public parks, housing, and transportation.
“He was fighting for all things, and he talks about the fierce urgency of now,” Taylor said. “…that’s exactly the kind of moment we are in now.”
Michelle Nearon, senior associate dean for graduate student development and diversity, conferred the medal.
“Professor Taylor is a stalwart figure in academia. Through her work, she has consistently shed light on important social, environmental trends. Professor Taylor's commitment to diversity and inclusion in the educational context is beyond commendable,” Nearon said.
Dorceta Taylor
Wangari Maathai Professor of Environmental Sociology
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Nyeema Harris Named to National Academies Leadership Program
Nyeema Harris, the Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Wildlife and Land Conservation, has been named a member of the 2026 cohort of New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
The leadership program by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine aims to expand expertise in the functions of the National Academies while building a network of emerging U.S. leaders to address national and global challenges. New Voices members are competitively selected through a merit-based competition. Each cohort serves a two-year term before transitioning to alumni status.
“New Voices provides unique exposure to the National Academy of Sciences, enhancing my practical application of science diplomacy,” Harris said. "I am honored and elated by this growth opportunity and know my career trajectory will forever be changed as a result of the relationships built, data shared, and lessons learned."
Harris’ research explores carnivore behavior and movement and ecology and conservation in urban systems and national parks. She is director of the Applied Wildlife Ecology (AWE) lab at YSE.
Nyeema Harris
Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Wildlife and Land Conservation
Anthropology and Environment Program Students Earn Prizes for Research
Three YSE doctoral students — Al Lim, Botau Zhao, and Yuefei You — were recognized for their research during the American Anthropological Association in New Orleans.
Lim won the H Russell Bernard Student Paper Prize from the Society for Anthropological Sciences for his paper on how taxes and fiscal design shape subjects in AI-crypto ecosystems.
Zhao received the Nancy Abelmann Prize from the East Asia Society for best graduate student paper. The paper examines the decline of horse caravans in Yanjing, Markham, Tibet.
You earned the 2025 best student film prize from the Society for Visual Anthropology Festival of Film and Media for her documentary “What Do Ghosts Think?” The film examines how various communities in East Kalimantan respond to displacement, supernatural tales, and political censorship surrounding the construction of the new city of Nusantara.
Lim, Zhao, and You work in the lab of Michael Dove, the Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology and co-director of the Combined Doctoral Program in Anthropology.
Al Lim, Botao Zhao, and Yuefei You
Five YSE Faculty Members Named to 2025 ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ List
Five Yale School of the Environment faculty members have been named to the world’s most influential researchers list by Clarivate Analytics, a company that compiles a list of scientists and social scientists whose papers rank in the top 1% of citations.
Included on this year’s list were: Mark Bradford, the E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology; Xuhui Lee the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Climate Science; Anthony Leiserowitz, the JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Peter Raymond, the Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry; and Karen Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science. In total, 49 faculty members from Yale University made the list of 6,868 researchers worldwide.
Mark Bradford
E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology
Xuhui Lee
Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Climate Science
Anthony Leiserowitz
JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)
Peter A. Raymond
Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry; Co-Director, Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability; Co-Director of the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions