Lisa Powell of Sweet Briar College Honored by the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences

Lisa Powell, an associate professor of environmental science and agriculture at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, received the Early Career Award from the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences. The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and promising future potential for teaching, research, policy, or activism in any field of environmental science and studies. Through this award, AESS honors individuals who are within the first 10 years of full-time employment in their current career and have made significant contributions to knowledge, community, and diversity in environmental studies and science.

The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences is a scholarly and professional organization that promotes interdisciplinary research, teaching, and service for faculty and students in the more than 1,000 environmental academic programs nationwide and beyond.

At Sweet Briar College, Dr. Powell also serves as head of the STEM Division Head and director of the Center for Human and Environmental Sustainability. She also leads the academic and community-focused aspects of SBC’s agricultural areas, including the greenhouse, apiary, vineyard, garden, and forests. As a researcher, Dr. Powell pursues a range of questions that all ultimately address human-environment relationships, most frequently in the contexts of food systems, policy, land use, and education.

Dr. Powell is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American studies and sustainability from the University of Texas at Austin.