User:Friendlyjellyfish7/Lucille Farrier Stickel

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Elizabeth Lucille Farrier Stickel (January 11, 1915 – February 22, 2007), known as Lucille or Dr. Stickel to colleagues, was an American wildlife toxicologist and director of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center from 1973 to 1982. She also served as the Pesticide and Pollutant Coordinator at Patuxent in 1972. Her research focused extensively on contaminants in wildlife ecosystems, and her research on the effects of the pesticide DDT helped form the basis for Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. She was also the first woman to become both a senior scientist as a civil servant of the US government and to be director for a national research laboratory.

Childhood & family
Elizabeth Lucille Farrier Stickel, known by her close peers as Lucille, was born on January 11, 1915 in Hillman, Michigan. Lucille had a rough childhood. She was one of seven sisters, and her father died when she was 5 years old due to influenza. As a child, she had a calling for nature. She acquired this love for the environment by allotting most of her free time to outdoor activities including swimming and climbing. She was reported to have climbed to the rooftops of almost all the homes in her small town. She expanded her love for nature as she spent many of her summers at her family cottage on Lake Avalon, close to her hometown, as well as trips to Florida during the winter with her family.

Education
In the 1920s, Stickel attended Roosevelt High School, a local public school, where she excelled in academics. She was also involved in the girl scouts and high school sports. She was a young, enthusiastic adventurer with a drive for her education. As she approached college, she began to further her career as a scientist. Lucille Stickel obtained her Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan University in 1936, graduating as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating with from Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), Stickel went on to teach for one year in Ypsilanti, MI. She continued into her doctoral degree at the University of Michigan in zoology. In 1941 Stickel's husband, William Henson Stickel, was transferred to Patuxent Research Refuge to work as a wildlife biologist, and Stickel followed. During this time, until 1943, she postponed her doctoral program and worked as a volunteer editor and junior biologist at Patuxent.

University of Michigan
Stickel returned to her doctoral degree at the University of Michigan in 1943, when her husband was drafted into World War II. During her time at Patuxent as junior biologist, she became interested in the box turtle populations and their home range relationships. Her interest in this turtle population became the subject of her dissertation, which was later titled "Populations and home range of the box turtle, Terrapene carolina (Linnaeus)". She initiated annual studies of this turtle population, and this effort has continued into the present day, amassing over eight decades of data. Her work in population ecology continues through this annual study of turtle populations through collaborations between the United States Geological Survey and the United States Fish and Wildlife Survey.

Accolades
Stickel was presented the Federal Women's Award by the Department of the Interior in 1968, along with a Distinguished Service Award in 1973. Stickel was also recognized as one of the only female contributors that worked on Biology of Peromycus, in which she worked on the chapter on travels and home ranges. The Wildlife Society awarded Stickel the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award in 1974 for her work on wildlife conservation. In 1980, Stickel would be presented the Special Conservation Award by the National Wildlife Federation. The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry bestowed her with the Rachel Carson Award in 1998. Stickel was also inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2014 for her environmental work.

An honorary doctorate was accorded to Stickel by the Eastern Michigan University in 1974. In addition, the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center renamed a chemistry and physiology lab after her and her husband.

Personal Life
She was married to William Henson Stickel, also a member of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and a herpetologist. Lucille and William Stickel would later on retire to the mountains near Franklin, North Carolina in March of 1982. For many happy years, the Stickels would support the local land conservation efforts while also identifying the different types of flora and fauna that was located on their property and surrounding area. She died on February 22, 2007, in Asheville, North Carolina.