Environmental Defense Fund’s Caribbean Team Receives Prestigious AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has announced that EDF’s Daniel Whittle, Valerie Miller, and Eduardo Boné Morón, are the recipients of the 2025 AAAS David & Betty Hamburg Award for Science Diplomacy. 

The award recognizes an individual or a small group working in the scientific or foreign policy community who are making an outstanding contribution to furthering science diplomacy. 

Whittle, Miller and Boné Morón are being honored for their “long and sustained success in fostering environmental and scientific cooperation between the United States and Cuba to protect both countries’ fragile, shared marine ecosystems.”

In December 2000, as part of its efforts to end overfishing and protect vital marine habitats along the southeast coast of the United States, EDF established contact with scientists and other professionals in Cuba who were studying and protecting marine ecosystems there. Because of prevailing currents and Cuba's proximity to the United States,marine and terrestrial ecosystems in both countries are tightly linked. 

Those initial conversations blossomed into a series of productive scientific and environmental collaborations that have spanned the last quarter century.

“We are thrilled and honored to receive this award,” said Whittle, who co-founded EDF’s work in Cuba and is now an Associate Vice President for the organization. “This award also reflects the hard work and dedication of so many colleagues in Cuba who have made these lasting partnerships possible.”

“The sea unites us,” said Miller, who joined EDF in 2012 and now serves as EDF’s Cuba Program Director. “The health of our shared ecosystems depends directly on good science and sound decision-making in both countries. Neither country can go it alone.”

“Scientific collaborations between U.S. and Cuban experts have produced results that are valuable to coral reef conservation and sustainable fisheries management throughout the region,” said Boné Morón, who joined EDF in 2016 and who now also serves as senior manager of EDF’s Cuba Program and the Chair of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.

Over the years, EDF has provided scientific support that has informed the development of an island-wide network of marine protected areas in Cuba, one of the most extensive networks in the hemisphere. Following the BP oil spill in 2010, Whittle facilitated conversations between US and Cuban officials, which eventually resulted in a bi-lateral agreement on preventing and responding to future oil spills. In 2023, EDF collaborated with 30 institutions in Cuba to complete an historic Coral Reef Expedition, circumnavigating the country to assess the health of its coral reefs, fish and marine life. The data collected is informing sustainable marine management in Cuba and guiding decision-makers across the Caribbean in addressing climate change impacts. More on EDF’s work in Cuba can be found here.

AAAS has recognized leaders in science diplomacy since 1992, renaming the award in 2021 for David and Betty Hamburg to recognize “their unparalleled commitment to the significant role of science diplomacy to advance science, human rights, peace, and cooperation.” Last year  Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed received the award for “using science to build relationships across the Middle East, particularly between Israelis and Palestinians, to work together to address mutual environmental concerns.” A list of all recipients can be found here.