Grimm had no interest in pursuing a career or major in STEM, but rather something to do with foreign language. However, after her first class in ecology at Hampshire College she decided that she wanted to be an ecologist. Nancy received her Bachelor's degree in 1978 from Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Grimm earned her M.S. in 1980 and Ph.D. in 1985 from Arizona State University. Grimm acknowledges key mentors throughout her life: Stan Gregory for inspiration as an undergraduate student at Hampshire College, Steve Carpenter for providing access to new opportunities, and Jim Collins for his advice once she got to Arizona State.
Research and career
Grimm has been a professor for the School of Life Sciences and a Senior Sustainability scientist at Arizona State University since 1990. She was the director of the for nearly two decades, which focuses on studying the social-ecological system of the metropolitan area of Phoenix. Currently, she directs a sustainability research network that looks into how urban areas respond to extreme weather events. Grimm and her research group primarily focus on urban and stream ecosystems, examining the effects of climate variation and change on ecosystem function. The success of Grimm's research program is evident in the more than $25 million in research funds she has secured from the National Science Foundation. This funding has allowed Grimm to carry out research that has enhanced the understanding of how ecosystems function in light of disturbance - whether that is the chronic disturbance of urbanization or how the variability of flow in a semi-arid streams and how these shifts affect the cycling of critical elements. Grimm is the former president of the Ecological Society of America and the North American Benthological Society. In addition to her position at Arizona State, Grimm has worked as a program director for the National Science Foundation and has worked with the U.S. Global Change Research Program as a senior scientist. Grimm worked alongside 300 other scientific experts to write the National Climate Assessment in 2014. The National Climate Assessment is a publication which is referred to by the public, federal agencies, and the National Academy of Sciences to learn about the changes that have already occurred as a result of climate change as well as what is expected as a result of climate change in the future. Grimm worked as the director of Arizona State University's Undergraduate Mentorship in Environmental Biology program between 1993 and 1998 in an effort to increase the number of students in underrepresented groups interested in ecology. During her time at Arizona State University, she has been the mentor of 42 graduate scholars, 29 post-doctoral scholars, and 41 undergraduate research scholars.
Awards and recognition
Nancy received the for her research in 2010. She received this award because of her research about urban ecology and studies which focus on the clash between human interaction and the environmental response.
Nancy Grimm has published over 110 peer reviewed publications and has been cited thousands of times. Below is a list of her top ten most cited articles.
