Dr. Nalini Nadkarni is a forest ecologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at the University of Utah. Since 1984, she has carried out research on the biota that live in rainforest canopies, supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. She has written 150 scientific papers and three scholarly books. In 2024, she became a Senior Fellow in Residence at the Sorenson Impact Institute to engage sustainable support for programs with positive environmental impacts. She also interweaves her rainforest research with innovative public engagement. She engages those who do not or cannot gain access to science education with the diverse values of trees to broaden awareness for forest conservation around the world. Her programs include faith-based groups, artists, corporations, and people who are incarcerated in state prisons, county jails, and juvenile detention centers.

Nadkarni created the approach of ‘tapestry thinking,’ bringing together seemingly disconnected ways of knowing and tailoring the qualities of nature through the values of others to amplify the need to protect it. Her work has been featured in journals ranging from Science to Playboy Magazine, and has been featured on RadioLab, Science Friday, and Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Her awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the AAAS Award for Public Engagement, the William Julius Wilson Award for Advancement of Social Justice, the National Science Foundation Public Service Award, the Archie Carr Medal for Conservation, and the Rachel Carson Award for Conservation. In 2024, the National Geographic Society named Nadkarni as one of their ten Explorers at Large.