EDUCATION & ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2023 - Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University
2020 - 2023 Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University
2015 - 2020 Ph.D., Columbia University. Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology. Advisor: Dr. Shahid Naeem
2012 - 2015 M.Sc., University of Chicago. Ecology & Evolution. Advisor: Dr. Tim Wootton.
2007 - 2010 B.S. Magna Cum Laude, Cornell University. Biology, concentration in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Advisor: Dr. Alex Flecker.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2016 – present: Consultant, Amazon Waters Initiative and Citizen Science for the Amazon Project, Wildlife Conservation Society
2010 – 2012: Program Officer, Latin America and Caribbean Program, Wildlife Conservation Society
FUNDING
2023: Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, $180,000
2021: Cornell Atkinson Academic Venture Fund, $175,000
2020: Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, $225,000
2018: Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, $29,778
2018: New York Community Trust Edward Prince Goldman Scholarship in Science, $5,000
2017: Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, $29,915
2017: Institute for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, $1,500
2017: Earth Institute Travel Grant, $750
2016: E3B Graduate Student Field Research Grant, $3,000
2016: Institute for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, $1,500
2013: National Geographic Society Young Explorer's Grant, $4,200
2013: Center for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, University of Chicago, $2,200
2013: Pilot Research Fellowship, Organization for Tropical Studies, $1,000
2009: Morely Student Research Award, Cornell University, $1,500
2008: Latin America Studies Program Travel Grant, Cornell University, $1,200
2008: Dextra Undergraduate Research Fund, Cornell University, $1,500
2007: Dextra Undergraduate Research Fund, Cornell University, $1,500
AWARDS
2023: AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship (declined)
2020: Society of Cornell Fellows
2020: University of Michigan Society of Fellows (declined)
2019: Best Student Talk in Aquatic Ecology, ESA 2019
2015 – 2020: Columbia University Dean’s Fellowship
2015: Dean’s Diversity Fellowship, Columbia University
2014: IIE Fulbright Fellowship, Peru (declined)
2014 - 2016: AAAS/Science Program for Excellence in Science
2013: 3rd place, National Science Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge (Team leader: S.A. Heilpern; with C. Stepien, C. Kyle, B. Krinsky, and R. Arthur)
2012 - 2015: Department of Education GAANN in Quantitative Ecology Fellow, University of Chicago
2010: National Science Foundation, REU Fellow, SoMAS SUNY Stony Brook
PUBLICATIONS
Submitted/In Review (available upon request)
Books / Technical Reports
INVITED TALKS & PRESENTATIONS
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Amazon Waters Alliance, WCS-TNC, Leticia, Colombia.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. School of Aquatic & Fisheries Science, University of Washington, WA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Earth Commons, Georgetown University, DC.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley, CA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University, MI.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, Drexel University, PA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Environmental Studies, University of Oregon, OR.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Ecosystem & Public Health, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Environmental Sciences, American University, DC.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Amazon Sustainable Landscapes, World Bank
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Distinguished Visitor in Organismal Biology Symposium, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2021. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Heilpern, S.A., 2020. Department of Earth and Environment. Florida International University, Miami, FL.
Heilpern, S.A., S. Sethi, C. Doria, F. Duponchelle, V. Batista, V. Isaac, and A.S. Flecker. 2019. Community-consequences of indiscriminate exploitation in large tropical rivers. Ecological Society of America, Louisville, KY ****Received ESA 2019 Award for best student talk in Aquatic Ecology ****
Heilpern, S.A., S. Sethi, C. Doria, F. Duponchelle, V. Batista, V. Isaac, and A.S. Flecker. 2019. Community-consequences of indiscriminate overharvesting in large tropical rivers. Society for Freshwater Science, Salt Lake City, UT
Heilpern, S.A., M. Varese, G. Leite, C. Hanks and C. Wood. 2019. The Citizen Science for the Amazon Project: Tracking Fish Migrations to Improve Sustainable Management and Empower Citizens Across the Amazon Basin. Society for Freshwater Science, Salt Lake City, UT
Heilpern, S.A., 2018. La biodiversidad pesquera y sus aportes a los servicios ecositémicos en la Amazonía. Evento "Integrando la conservación, el manejo pesquero y la seguridad alimentaria", Iquitos, Peru
Heilpern, S.A., B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2018. Predicting ecosystem vulnerability to biodiversity loss from community composition. Ecological Society of America, New Orleans, LA
Heilpern, S.A., B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2017. Community level trait statistics predict the vulnerability of ecosystem services to biodiversity loss. Annual Princeton, Penn, Rutgers and Columbia Conference, New York, NY
Heilpern, S.A. 2016 Protected areas and food security in Loreto, Peru, Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas, Iquitos, Peru.
Heilpern, S.A and T. Wootton. 2016. Disentangling the ecosystem consequences of deforestation and overfishing in a lowland Amazonian floodplain river system, Annual Princeton, Penn, Rutgers and Columbia Conference, Philladelphia, PA
Heilpern, S.A., and J.T. Wootton. 2015. Process catalyzers in rivers: Large woody debris and its impact on Amazonian floodplain rivers. Columbia Univeristy, New York, NY.
Heilpern, S.A. 2014. The influences of large woody debris in tropical floodplain river food web and ecosystem dynamics. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Heilpern, S.A. 2014. Disentangling the ecosystem consequences of deforestation and overfishing in an Amazonian floodplain river, Cocha Cashu Biologcal Station, Peru.
TEACHING
2018: Biodiversity, Conservation and Social Change, Columbia University
2017: Conservation Biology, Columbia University
2016: Environmental Biology I, Columbia University
2014: Animal Behavior, University of Chicago
2013: Tropical Ecology: Biodiversity and Human Impacts, University of Chicago
2010: International Conservation and Development: Communities and the Management of Natural Resources, Cornell University
SERVICE
Peer Reviewer: Biotropica, Conservation Biology, Ecosphere, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Nature, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, PNAS
Member: Ecological Society of America, Society for Freshwater Science
Working groups/Professional workshops: Ríos Vivos Andinos (USAID), Amazon Dams (Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University), Amazon Waters Initiative (Wildlife Conservation Society), Science Panel for the Amazon (Sustainable Development Solutions Network - UN), Freshwater Sustainability Targets (FIU-WCS)
Volunteer:
2017 - 2019: E3B Department Student Representative, Columbia University
2016 - 2019: E3B Department Organizer, GWC-UAW Local 2110, Columbia University
2013 - 2015: Ecology and Evolution Graduate Student Representative, University of Chicago
2012 - 2015: Department Organizer, Graduate Students United, University of Chicago
2012 - 2015: Board Member, Multicultural Graduate Community, University of Chicago
2023 - Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University
2020 - 2023 Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University
2015 - 2020 Ph.D., Columbia University. Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology. Advisor: Dr. Shahid Naeem
2012 - 2015 M.Sc., University of Chicago. Ecology & Evolution. Advisor: Dr. Tim Wootton.
2007 - 2010 B.S. Magna Cum Laude, Cornell University. Biology, concentration in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Advisor: Dr. Alex Flecker.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2016 – present: Consultant, Amazon Waters Initiative and Citizen Science for the Amazon Project, Wildlife Conservation Society
2010 – 2012: Program Officer, Latin America and Caribbean Program, Wildlife Conservation Society
FUNDING
2023: Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, $180,000
2021: Cornell Atkinson Academic Venture Fund, $175,000
2020: Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, $225,000
2018: Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, $29,778
2018: New York Community Trust Edward Prince Goldman Scholarship in Science, $5,000
2017: Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, $29,915
2017: Institute for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, $1,500
2017: Earth Institute Travel Grant, $750
2016: E3B Graduate Student Field Research Grant, $3,000
2016: Institute for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, $1,500
2013: National Geographic Society Young Explorer's Grant, $4,200
2013: Center for Latin American Studies Travel Grant, University of Chicago, $2,200
2013: Pilot Research Fellowship, Organization for Tropical Studies, $1,000
2009: Morely Student Research Award, Cornell University, $1,500
2008: Latin America Studies Program Travel Grant, Cornell University, $1,200
2008: Dextra Undergraduate Research Fund, Cornell University, $1,500
2007: Dextra Undergraduate Research Fund, Cornell University, $1,500
AWARDS
2023: AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship (declined)
2020: Society of Cornell Fellows
2020: University of Michigan Society of Fellows (declined)
2019: Best Student Talk in Aquatic Ecology, ESA 2019
2015 – 2020: Columbia University Dean’s Fellowship
2015: Dean’s Diversity Fellowship, Columbia University
2014: IIE Fulbright Fellowship, Peru (declined)
2014 - 2016: AAAS/Science Program for Excellence in Science
2013: 3rd place, National Science Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge (Team leader: S.A. Heilpern; with C. Stepien, C. Kyle, B. Krinsky, and R. Arthur)
2012 - 2015: Department of Education GAANN in Quantitative Ecology Fellow, University of Chicago
2010: National Science Foundation, REU Fellow, SoMAS SUNY Stony Brook
PUBLICATIONS
Submitted/In Review (available upon request)
- Fiorella, K.J., E.R.R. Bageant, S.H. Thilsted, S.A. Heilpern. In review. Commercially traded fish portfolios mask household utilization of biodiversity in wild food systems.
- Heilpern, S.A. F. Simon, S. Sethi, K. Fiorella, A.S. Flecker, C. Gomes, P. McIntyre. In review. Conserving biodiversity safeguards nutritious and sustainable global fisheries.
- Jenkins, C., S. Athayde, C. Beveridge, S. Correa, J. Espinoza, S.A. Heilpern, G. Herrera-R, L. Lacy, P. Olivas, A. Oliveira, N. Piland, R. Utsunomiya, E. Anderson. In review. The global importance of Amazonian freshwaters.
- Pacheco, F.S., S.A. Heilpern, C. DiLeo, R.M. Almeida, S. Sethi, M. Miranda, N. Ray, N. Barros, J. Cavali, C. Costa, C. Doria, J. Fan, K. Fiorella, B. Forsberg, M. Gomes, L. Greenstreet, M. Holgerson, D. McGrath, P. McIntyre, P. Moraes-Valenti, I. Oliveira, J.P.H.B. Ometto, F. Roland, A. Trindade, M. Ummus, W. Valenti, X. Xu, C. Gomes, A.S. Flecker. In review. Aquaculture expansion in the Amazon: challenges and opportunities for sustainable food production.
- Qu, Z. M. Grimson, Y. Mao, S.A. Heilpern, I. Miqueleiz, F. Pacheco, A. Flecker, and C. Gomes. Strategies for compressing the Pareto frontier: Application to strategic planning of hydropower in the Amazon Basin. Accepted International Conference on the Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research
- Beveridge, C., J.C. Espinoza, S. Athayde, S.B. Correa, T.B.A. Cuoto, S.A. Heilpern, C.N. Jenkins, N. Piland, R. Utsunnomiya, S.W. Correa, and E.P. Anderson. The Andes-Amazon pathway: a foundational hydroclimate system for social-ecological system sustainability. In press PNAS
- Herrera-R, G., S.A. Heilpern, T. Cuoto, L. Lacy, F. Duponchelle, S. Correa, A. Farah-Pérez, S. López-Casas, C. Cañas-Alva, C. Doria, E.P. Anderson. 2024. A synthesis of the diversity of freshwater migrations in the Amazon basin. Fish & Fisheries 25: 114-133.
- Heilpern, S.A., R.M. Almeida, K.J. Fiorella, A.S. Flecker, D. Williams, and P.B McIntyre. 2023. Nutritional challenges of substituting farmed animals for wild fish in human diets. Environmental Research Letters 18: 114030.
- Heilpern, S.A., G.A. Herrera-R, K. Fiorella, A.S. Flecker, P. McIntyre. 2023. Species trait diversity sustains dietary nutrients supplied by freshwater fisheries. Ecology Letters 26: 1887-1897.
- Rynaby Rengifo, J., L.C. Moya Vásquez, S.A. Heilpern, and E. Isasi-Catalá. 2023. Características de la pesca y el aporte nutricional del recurso pesquero en la comunidad Santa Rosa del Aripari, cuenca del Río Cahuapanas. Folia Amaónica 31: 103-120.
- Heilpern, S.A., S.A. Sethi, R.B. Barthem, V. da Silva Batista, C.R.C. Doria, F. Duponchelle, A. Garcia Vazquez, M. Goulding, V. Isaac, S. Naeem, and A.S. Flecker. 2022. Biodiversity underpins fisheries resilience to exploitation in the Amazon river basin. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 289: 20220726.
- Almeida, R.M., R.J.P. Schmitt, A. Castelletti, A.S. Flecker, J. Harou, S.A. Heilpern, N. Kittner, G.M. Kondolf, J.J. Opperman, Q. Shi, C.P. Gomes, P.B. McIntyre. 2022. Strategic planning of hydropwer development: balancing benefits and socioenvironmental costs. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 56: 101175.
- Flecker et al. (including S.A. Heilpern). 2022. Reducing adverse impacts of Amazon hydropower expansion on people and nature. Science 375: 753-760.
- Heilpern, S.A., R. DeFries, K. Fiorella, A.S. Flecker, S. Sethi, M. Uriarte, and S. Naeem. 2021. Declining diversity of wild-caught species puts dietary nutrient supplies at risk. Science Advances 7: eabf9967.
- Anujan, K., S.A. Heilpern, C. Prager, B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2021. Trophic complexity alters the diversity-multifunctionality relationship in experimental grassland mesocosms. Ecology & Evolution 11: 6471-6479.
- Heilpern, S.A., K. Fiorella, C. Cañas, A.S. Flecker, L. Moya, S. Naeem, S.A. Sethi, M. Uriarte, and R. DeFries. 2021. Substitution of inland fisheries with aquaculture and chicken undermines human nutrition in the Peruvian Amazon. Nature Food 2: 192-197.
- Fiorella, K.J., H. Okronipa, K. Baker and S.A. Heilpern. 2021. Contemporary aquaculture: Implications for human nutrition. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 770: 83-90.
- Heilpern, S.A., K. Anujan, S. Naeem, and A. Osuri. 2020. Positive correlations in species functional contributions drive the response of ecosystem multifunctionality to biodiversity loss. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287: 20192501.
- Heilpern, S.A., B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2018. Predicting ecosystem vulnerability to biodiversity loss from community composition. Ecology 99: 1099-1107.
- Anderson, E., C. Jenkins, S.A. Heilpern, J. Maldonado-Ocampo, F. Carvajal-Vallejos, A. Encalada, J. Rivadeneira, M. Hidalgo, C. Cañas, H. Ortega, N. Salcedo, M. Maldonado, P.A. Tedesco. 2018. Fragmentation of Andes-to-Amazon connectivity by hydropower dams and associated consequences for natural and human systems. Science Advances 4 (1): eaao1642.
- Heilpern, S.A., and J.T. Wootton. 2018. Cross-ecosystem exchange of process catalyzers in Amazonian Floodplain river systems: understanding the role of large woody debris using experiments, observations and path analysis. Ecosphere 9: e02030.
- Heilpern, S.A. 2015. Biodiversity: Include freshwater species. Nature 518: 167.
- Capps, K. A. , L. G. Nico, M. Mendoza Carranza, W. Arevalo-Frias, A. J. Ropicki, S.A. Heilpern, R. Rodiles-Hernandez. 2011. Salinity tolerance of the exotic armored catfish (Siluriformes: Lorcariidae) in southern Mexico: potential new pathways for invasion. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 21: 528-540.
Books / Technical Reports
- 180 coauthors including S.A. Heilpern. 2021. Science Panel for the Amazon. UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
- Pitman, N., A. Bravo, S. Claramunt, C. Vriesendorp, D. Alvira Reyes, A. Ravikumar, Á. del Campo, D. F. Stotz, T. Wachter, S. Heilpern, B. Rodríguez Grández, A. R. Sáenz Rodríguez, y/and R. C. Smith, eds. 2017. Perú: Medio Putumayo-Algodón. Rapid Biological and Social Inventories Report 28. The Field Museum, Chicago.
- Pitman, N., C. Vriesendorp, L. Rivera Chávez, T. Wachter, D. Alvira Reyes, Á. del Campo, G. Gagliardi-Urrutia, D. Rivera González, L. Trevejo, D. Rivera González, y/and S.A. Heilpern, eds. 2015. Perú: Tapiche-Blanco. Rapid Biological and Social Inventories Report 27. The Field Museum, Chicago.
- Pitman, N., C. Vriesendorp, D. Alvira, J.A. Markel, M. Johnston, E. Ruelas Inzunza, A. Lancha Pizango, G. Sarmiento Valenzuela, P. Álvarez-Loayza, J. Homan, T. Wachter, Á. del Campo, D.F. Stotz y/and S.A. Heilpern, eds.. 2014. Perú: Cordillera Escalera-Loreto. Rapid Biological Inventories Report 26. The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. 396 Pages.
INVITED TALKS & PRESENTATIONS
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Amazon Waters Alliance, WCS-TNC, Leticia, Colombia.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. School of Aquatic & Fisheries Science, University of Washington, WA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Earth Commons, Georgetown University, DC.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley, CA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University, MI.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, Drexel University, PA.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Environmental Studies, University of Oregon, OR.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Ecosystem & Public Health, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2023. Department of Environmental Sciences, American University, DC.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Amazon Sustainable Landscapes, World Bank
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Distinguished Visitor in Organismal Biology Symposium, Cornell University, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2022. Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY.
Heilpern, S.A., 2021. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Heilpern, S.A., 2020. Department of Earth and Environment. Florida International University, Miami, FL.
Heilpern, S.A., S. Sethi, C. Doria, F. Duponchelle, V. Batista, V. Isaac, and A.S. Flecker. 2019. Community-consequences of indiscriminate exploitation in large tropical rivers. Ecological Society of America, Louisville, KY ****Received ESA 2019 Award for best student talk in Aquatic Ecology ****
Heilpern, S.A., S. Sethi, C. Doria, F. Duponchelle, V. Batista, V. Isaac, and A.S. Flecker. 2019. Community-consequences of indiscriminate overharvesting in large tropical rivers. Society for Freshwater Science, Salt Lake City, UT
Heilpern, S.A., M. Varese, G. Leite, C. Hanks and C. Wood. 2019. The Citizen Science for the Amazon Project: Tracking Fish Migrations to Improve Sustainable Management and Empower Citizens Across the Amazon Basin. Society for Freshwater Science, Salt Lake City, UT
Heilpern, S.A., 2018. La biodiversidad pesquera y sus aportes a los servicios ecositémicos en la Amazonía. Evento "Integrando la conservación, el manejo pesquero y la seguridad alimentaria", Iquitos, Peru
Heilpern, S.A., B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2018. Predicting ecosystem vulnerability to biodiversity loss from community composition. Ecological Society of America, New Orleans, LA
Heilpern, S.A., B. Weeks, and S. Naeem. 2017. Community level trait statistics predict the vulnerability of ecosystem services to biodiversity loss. Annual Princeton, Penn, Rutgers and Columbia Conference, New York, NY
Heilpern, S.A. 2016 Protected areas and food security in Loreto, Peru, Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas, Iquitos, Peru.
Heilpern, S.A and T. Wootton. 2016. Disentangling the ecosystem consequences of deforestation and overfishing in a lowland Amazonian floodplain river system, Annual Princeton, Penn, Rutgers and Columbia Conference, Philladelphia, PA
Heilpern, S.A., and J.T. Wootton. 2015. Process catalyzers in rivers: Large woody debris and its impact on Amazonian floodplain rivers. Columbia Univeristy, New York, NY.
Heilpern, S.A. 2014. The influences of large woody debris in tropical floodplain river food web and ecosystem dynamics. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Heilpern, S.A. 2014. Disentangling the ecosystem consequences of deforestation and overfishing in an Amazonian floodplain river, Cocha Cashu Biologcal Station, Peru.
TEACHING
2018: Biodiversity, Conservation and Social Change, Columbia University
2017: Conservation Biology, Columbia University
2016: Environmental Biology I, Columbia University
2014: Animal Behavior, University of Chicago
2013: Tropical Ecology: Biodiversity and Human Impacts, University of Chicago
2010: International Conservation and Development: Communities and the Management of Natural Resources, Cornell University
SERVICE
Peer Reviewer: Biotropica, Conservation Biology, Ecosphere, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Nature, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, PNAS
Member: Ecological Society of America, Society for Freshwater Science
Working groups/Professional workshops: Ríos Vivos Andinos (USAID), Amazon Dams (Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University), Amazon Waters Initiative (Wildlife Conservation Society), Science Panel for the Amazon (Sustainable Development Solutions Network - UN), Freshwater Sustainability Targets (FIU-WCS)
Volunteer:
2017 - 2019: E3B Department Student Representative, Columbia University
2016 - 2019: E3B Department Organizer, GWC-UAW Local 2110, Columbia University
2013 - 2015: Ecology and Evolution Graduate Student Representative, University of Chicago
2012 - 2015: Department Organizer, Graduate Students United, University of Chicago
2012 - 2015: Board Member, Multicultural Graduate Community, University of Chicago