NEW YORK-APRIL 15 : 2011 WINGS Women of Discovery Awards Gala on Friday, April 15, 2011 at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen, 711 Greenwich Street, New York City, NY Co-Chairs: Kitty Pilgrim and Christine Dennison. Entertainment by the Kit McClure Band. Among this year’s awardees—who were honored at the gala dinner on April 15, 2011—were pioneering researchers in human/environmental conflict, atmospheric chemistry, marine conservation, and Arctic survival. 2011 Honorees were: Sea Award: Anna Cummins is a specialist in marine conservation, sustainability, and ecology education. With the 5 Gyres Institute, a non-profit she co-founded with her husband Marcus Eriksen, Anna has been studying the impacts of plastic waste that accumulates in the world’s oceans, threatening marine ecosystems and potentially impacting human health. Courage Award: Canadian herpetologist Kate Jackson likes nothing more than to be waist-deep in mud, holding a snake she has yet to identify. Her groundbreaking work with snakes in Africa is chronicled in Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo. Humanity Award: Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of Conservation Through Public Health, has been instrumental in gorilla conservation in her native Uganda. Kalema-Zikusoka was among the first to realize that endangered gorillas—with whom we share some 98 percent of our DNA—were threatened not only by poaching but by exposure to human-borne disease, transmitted through contact with visitors to the parks established to protect them. Earth Award: Catherine Powers has studied mass extinction events deep in Earth’s history, particularly that which took place at the close of the Permian-Triassic period some 250 million years ago. She has noted that the extinction process in marine communities can be detected by the distribution of stenolaemate bryozoans—an order of marine invertebrates that live on the ocean floor.

About: Established in 2003, the WINGS WorldQuest Women of Discovery Awards recognize outstanding women who are making significant contributions to world knowledge through exploration. The awards include a research grant, travel to New York, and opportunities to present field research to the press and greater public. Awards are given annually in the following categories: Air & Space, Earth, Sea, Humanity, Courage, Field Research, and Lifetime Achievement. To date, 48 pioneering women have received the WINGS Women of Discovery Award.

PHOTO CREDIT: ©Manhattan Society.com 2011 by Karen Zieff | About: Karen Zieff is an event and portrait specialist working worldwide as well as an authorized contributing photo journalist to ManhattanSociety.com. Karen is available for private hire. To see more work, please visit her personal website: http://www.zieffphoto.com | toll free contact number: 888.353.4248 | e-mail: karen@zieffphoto.com