Trailblazing research ecologist Paulette Ford will be remembered during the In Memoriam segment of the Women of Color Gala at WOC DTX 2021. The video clip reads:
"In memory and honor of Dr. Paulette Ford for the great scientific research work she contributed to the USDA Forest Service."
In a message recorded before she passed away on August 28 at Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by her family, the late award winner said:
“Hi, I'm Dr. Paulette Ford. I'm a research scientist with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, and I'm receiving the Technology All-Star Award."
Dr. Ford was nominated for a Women of Color (WOC) STEM award by Dr. Chelcy Miniat, program manager at the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research in Albuquerque. Women of Color Technology All-Star awards are given to leading mid-career professionals.
Dr. Ford began a 28-year career with the Forest Service after working with an exchange program, starting with the Cooperative Education program at Rocky Mountain Research Station. She completed her doctorate at the University of Arizona in 2000 and was converted to a full-time research ecologist position.
She studied climate and climate variability as drivers of past and present grassland, shrubland, and desert floral and faunal compositions, distributions, and ecosystem processes to assist in devising meaningful management.
She was the Forest Service co-lead of the Southern Plains USDA Climate Hub. She served as a member of The Wildlife Society's Technical Review, an associate editor for the journals BioScience and Rangeland Ecology and Management, on the Natural Inquirer Board of Directors, and as a mentor for the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program with the University of New Mexico. She received 25 merit, achievement, and civil rights awards from RMRS and two awards from the Chief of the Forest Service for her work on grasslands and drought.
She hosted and mentored students and graduate students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Colleges and Universities, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, as well as graduate students at the University of New Mexico, Highlands University, New Mexico State University, and Northern Arizona University.
In addition, she did volunteer work for the organization Habitat for Humanity, helped with Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, participated in long-distance bicycling events to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and worked with local sponsors to host special conservation events and sponsor educational supplies to students from underserved communities. Paulette's impacts were widespread and substantial, from science to editorial services, conservation education, and needy communities.
Born in San Diego, she grew up in many places due to her father's career in the Navy. While in Morocco, she spent a lot of time running through fields and cork forests outside the city of Rabat, Morocco. She attended the University of New Mexico for her undergraduate degrees in biology and psychology. There, she realized that she enjoyed field biology and took every opportunity to go on mammalogy and marine biology field trips. She was part of an all-female field crew funded by the National Science Foundation to trap mammals in Bolivia for the Museum of Southwestern Biology. While doing undergraduate research describing eight new species of parasites, a new parasite species was named in her honor, Eimeria paulettefordae. She spent time in the Peace Corps before returning to UNM for her master's in biology.
