Since its establishment by the British Ecological Society in 1987, the President’s Medal has only been awarded to a little more than a dozen recipients. This year, a Colorado State University professor joined that total.

Diana Wall, a CSU distinguished professor, received the honor this year and said she was humbled by the presentation. 

“It’s absolutely shocking and stunning,” Wall said. “It’s something I didn’t expect because I don’t see myself as doing that much to be recognized in that way by that society. That’s a very prestigious group.”

According to the BES website, this honor was established in 1987 and is awarded as a personal gift from the society’s president at the end of every term of office — every two years.

Wall said the society’s president, Richard Bardgett, presented her with the award for a couple of reasons, one of which involved Wall’s expeditions to Antarctica and the study of the organisms in the soil there. 

“The largest animal in those valleys is a very tiny nematode, about the size of an eyelash,” Wall said. “They’re transparent, so you can just look and see what’s happening with them.” 

Wall pointed out that a person could easily tell whether a nematode was a predator or not simply by looking to see if it had a tooth. 

“Sometimes, when I go to the doctor, I wish I was like that,” Wall said. 

Wall said another reason why she was awarded the medal was because of the work she has done through the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative.

CSU is absolutely packed with the best scientists who work on microbes in soils or carbon in soils. … It’s really a wonderful place to be to think about the life in soil.” -Diana Wall, 2019 President’s Medal recipient, CSU distinguished professor

The initiative brought together a group of scientists who study microorganisms, such as earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, ants, termites and nematodes, which is what Wall focuses on.  

Wall said that by bringing scientists who work on life underground together, they have been able to understand and even help save life that happens above ground. 

“The soil does so many things for us,” Wall said. “It’s our food; it’s our landscapes; it supports buildings; it helps clean water. … We’re trying to bring all the scientists together to work on that, and we’ve been pretty successful in getting people to recognize that this is important life.”

Wall said life in the soil is a big source of biodiversity and that people need to include it when they are thinking about land and our future in sustainability. 

Through the initiative, Wall and about 100 other scientists put together an atlas.

Wall said the atlas was made with the European Union and talks about the diversity of soil organisms and what a person could expect to find in different ecosystems, as well as what each organism does for the soil and the atmosphere. 

“When we put this out, it was amazing because it was presented to the king of Holland,” Wall said. “The Australian scientists who contributed showed it to their Australian parliament, and so this atlas has become a thing not only for school teachers, but also for policymakers to say that life in soil is really important.” 

Wall said in the future, she plans to continue working in Antarctica. She is also working on an assessment of soil biodiversity globally, which includes the status of potentially lost species and why it may matter and how to possibly take better care of soil in the future. 

I applaud the BES for awarding her the prestigious President’s Medal, a well-deserved honor for a truly incredible person.” -André Franco, soil ecologist

“CSU is absolutely packed with the best scientists who work on microbes in soils or carbon in soils,” Wall said. “This is a hotbed; people come from all around the world to talk to them. It’s really a wonderful place to be to think about the life in soil.”

André Franco, a fellow soil ecologist, wrote in an email to The Collegian that the award Wall received is well deserved and fits the terrific career Wall built over the years. 

“(Wall’s) work and dedication to bring science into action for the conservation of soils and soil biodiversity will have a long-standing positive impact and (will) benefit our children’s and grandchildren’s generations,” Franco wrote. “At a personal level, I feel incredibly fortunate for having Diana (Wall) as a mentor and colleague.”

Franco wrote that Wall has inspired young scientists like himself to work ethically with passion, to push more diversity in academia and to work toward better communication with the public. 

“I applaud the BES for awarding her the prestigious President’s Medal, a well-deserved honor for a truly incredible person,” Franco wrote. 

Wall said she wouldn’t be where she is now without the help of her colleagues and coworkers. 

“This award is just something that came because I have so many really great colleagues who work in soil, as well as in my lab, and all the students that have helped,” Wall said. “It’s really been a lot of people worldwide working hard on this.”

Ceci Taylor can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @cecelia_twt.