Nalini Nadkarni is a professor of biology at the University of Utah. Her forest ecology research focuses on how biodiversity, forests and the stability of world climate interact, with an emphasis on the forest canopy. Her field sites are in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. She is also interested in sustainable fashion, kids’ science education, and introducing science to people through religion.

In 2003, she co-founded the Sustainability in Prisons Project, bringing science lectures and hands-on conservation projects to incarcerated adults in Washington State, Utah, and around the country. She is director of INSPIRE, the Initiative to bring Science Programs to the Incarcerated in Utah.

Her Tree Top Barbie project was featured on NPR’s Short Wave and in several other outlets.

Expertise: Forest ecology, rainforest conservation, science education, inmate education and rehabilitation, forest canopy, sustainable fashion

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Email: nalini.nadkarni@utah.edu

Phone: 360-870-6632

Featured on American Public Media’s The Promised Land: “Meeting the Queen of the Canopy”