As Director of the Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), Dr. Eleanor Sterling oversees strategic planning and project development, leads fundraising efforts, and manages a multidisciplinary staff of over 30. In her capacity as a conservation biologist, Eleanor studies biodiversity and the history of land use in Vietnam, leading to the publication in 2006 of Vietnam: A Natural History , co-authored with two colleagues at the CBC and published by Yale University Press. She is also the chair of the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium and is working to document biodiversity on this remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean. She is especially interested in determining population densities and habitat use by sea turtles on the atoll to better plan for the conservation of turtle habitats and the overall management of the island. In 2000, Eleanor spearheaded the establishment of the CBC's Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, which works to create and implement educational materials and teaching resources for biodiversity conservation at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels around the world. Eleanor has more than 20 years of field research experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where she conducted surveys and censuses, as well as behavioral, ecological, and genetic studies of primates, whales, and other mammals. She is considered a world authority on the aye-aye, a nocturnal lemur found in Madagascar. For the last eight years, Eleanor has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she now serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. Eleanor sits on the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology, and is a Board member of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University. Eleanor received a B.A. in psychobiology from Yale College in 1983 and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology and forestry and environmental studies from Yale University in 1993. She joined the Museum in 1996 as the CBC's Program Director and was named Director of the CBC in 2000.

Representative Publications

Horning, N., J. Robinson, E.J. Sterling, W. Turner, and S. Spector, eds. In Prep.  An Introduction to Remote Sensing for Biodiversity Conservation. Oxford University Press.

McNeely, J., E.J. Sterling, and J. Mulongoy.  2008. What each of us can do to save biodiversity.  In: Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity. Edited by E. Chivian et al. Oxford Press. 

Mendez, M., A. Gomez, N. Bynum, R. Medellin, A.L. Porzecanski, and E.J. Sterling. 2007. Availability of formal academic programs in conservation biology in Latin America. Conservation Biology 21(6): 1399-1403.

Sterling , E.J., J. Lee and T. Wood. 2007. Conservation education in zoos: an emphasis on behavioral change. In: Zoos in the 21 st Century: Catalysts for Conservation ? Edited by Alexandra Zimmerman et al. pp 37-50. Cambridge University Press. 

Sterling, E.J. 2007. Blue Planet Blues. Natural History (November 2007) pp. 29-31.

Sterling, E.J., and M. Camhi. 2007.  Sold Down the River. Natural History (November 2007) pp. 40-45. 

Sterling , E.J., M.M. Hurley and Le Duc Minh. 2006. Vietnam: A Natural History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Sterling , E.J., and E.M. McCreless. 2006. Adaptations in the Aye-aye: A Review. In: Lemurs: Ecology and Adaptation. Edited by L. Gould and M.L. Sauther. pp. 159-184. Springer.

Sterling , E.J. 2005. Series editor. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edited by E. Johnson and M. Klemens. Columbia University Press. 

Sterling , E.J., E.L. Bynum, M.F. Laverty, I.J. Harrison, S. Spector, and E.A. Johnson. 2003. Why Should You Care About Biological Diversity? A SENCER Backgrounder. SENCER: Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities. PDF

Turner, W., S. Spector, N. Gardiner, M. Fladeland, E.J. Sterling, and M. Steininger. 2003. Remote sensing for biodiversity science and conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(6):306-314.

Harrison, I.J., M.F. Laverty, and E.J. Sterling. 2002. What is Biodiversity? In: Life on Earth: An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution. Edited by Niles Eldredge. pp. 1-30. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Laverty, M.F., E.J. Sterling, and E. Johnson. 2002. Why is Biodiversity Important? In: Life on Earth: An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution. Edited by Niles Eldredge. pp. 31-47. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Laverty, M.F., and E.J. Sterling. 2002. Threats to Biodiversity. In: Life on Earth: An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution. Edited by Niles Eldredge. pp. 49-72. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.