UC's David Lentz Named 2015 AAAS Fellow

David Lentz, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati, has been named a 2015 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Lentz was specifically chosen for “outstanding contributions to cross-disciplinary studies in paleoethnobotany, developing the concept of agroforestry in sustainability of cultures, and for administrative and outreach efforts in field studies.”   

Lentz displays a passion for both research and teaching, in or out of the classroom and has played an instrumental role in providing students with research opportunities as executive director of the UC Center for Field Studies, an advanced research facility and UC’s outdoor laboratory that allows both undergraduates and graduates to conduct fieldwork. 

His research explores the human use of plants and how landscapes are altered by people over time. He has conducted field research in many areas of North America, Central America and Central Asia; and he has studied indigenous groups of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, as well as those of the southwestern and southeastern United States. 

A member of the Quaternary and Anthropocene Research Group in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at UC, Lentz’s studies embrace a diverse range of disciplines, including paleontology, anthropology, ecology, biology, sociology and others. He has published widely on many topics pertaining to nature and ancient cultures, including much peer-reviewed research on the environmental contexts of the Maya civilization. He is the co-editor of Tikal: Paleoecology of an Ancient Maya City, published in 2015 by Cambridge University Press.