About

Dr. Anna Davidson is an artist, scientist, and educator working at the nexus of visual art, culture, and ecology within the Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment at Cornell University. As a Senior Research Associate and the Founder of Cornell EcoArts, she leads a research program examining the integration of art into environmental field courses, the role of artists-in-residence at biological field stations, and how creative practice deepens students’ sense of place, belonging, and environmental identity.

As a place-based artist, Davidson investigates natural resource use, ecological memory, and environmental justice across diverse landscapes, including the Arctic, deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems, California’s Sierra Nevada, and the Mohawk River Watershed in New York. As a tree physiologist, she collaborates with the New York State Hemlock Initiative to study Eastern Hemlock’s physiological responses—particularly water relations and carbohydrate management —to the devastating invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

Davidson holds a PhD in Plant Science and an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of California, Davis. She is a Faculty Fellow with the Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Cornell’s Einhorn Center for Community Engagement. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally and regularly curates interdisciplinary exhibitions. She has participated in numerous residencies, including The Arctic Circle, Djerassi, Tropical Lab, and as an Artist at Sea aboard the R/V Atlantis. Her scholarship appears in peer-reviewed journals in both art and science, and her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Mellon Foundation. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children..