Field Museum Hires New Director for Science Action
Position Responsible for Conservation Efforts in Chicago and Abroad
The Field Museum is excited to announce the appointment of Nora Bynum, PhD as the new Rowe Family Director of Science Action. As Director, Bynum will work with the team of ecologists, social scientists, and educators in the Science Action Center to deepen the Museum’s impact at home in the Chicago region, where the team works with partners to link vibrant wildlife corridors that benefit nature and inner-city neighborhoods, and in the remote wilderness of the tropics, where scientists in the Center have helped governments protect close to 34 million acres of forests over the past 15 years, mostly in the in the Andes-Amazon regions of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
“The Field Museum’s Science Action Center is exciting, particularly because of its dual conservation focus on the local versus the global, the biological as well as the cultural, and the emphasis on both areas with many people and areas with many species,” says Bynum. “I find this approach – of trying to understand systems by addressing complementary elements of these systems – very compelling.”
“Our search for a director lasted two long years,” explains Debra Moskovits, PhD, Vice President of Science and Education. “We were seeking a stellar conservation professional with strong experience in the field, a passion for action, and a superb track record in management. At the same time we were looking for a candidate with excellent academic standing, full grasp of the biological and cultural aspects of conservation, and significant museum experience. We were beginning to consider relaxing our requirements when we found Nora. We’re thrilled to have her join our team.”
While earning her undergraduate degree from Duke University, Bynum had the opportunity to study orangutans in Indonesia, and quickly fell in love with the orangutans as well as the conservation work itself. Bynum earned her doctorate from Yale University’s joint program in Anthropology and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and has extensive field experience in Central and South America, Africa, and Asia.
Most recently, Bynum served as Vice Provost at Duke University, where she played a leadership role in the launch of Duke Kunshan University in Jiangsu province, China. Prior to that, Bynum directed a university-level conservation training project at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History.