Esther Ngumbi
Ngumbi in 2015
Born	Kenya
Alma mater	Kenyatta University Auburn University
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Auburn University

Esther Ndumi Ngumbi is a Kenyan entomologist and academic who is currently Assistant Professor of Entomology and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She was awarded the 2018 Society for Experimental Biology Presidential Award.

Esther Ngumbi grew up in Kwale County, a rural farming community in Kenya.^[1][2] She was introduced to farming at the age of seven, when her parents gave her a strip of land to cultivate cabbages.^[3] As a child she became aware of the challenges that farmers faced, including drought and bad soils.^[3] The first time she left her village was to attend Kenyatta University, where she earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees.^[4][5] In 2007 she was awarded an American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship that allowed her to complete a doctoral degree in entomology at Auburn University.^[1][6][7] In 2011 she became one of the first people from her community to achieve a doctorate.^[1][8] After earning her PhD she remained at Auburn University as a postdoctoral scholar.^[3]

Ngumbi was appointed Assistant Professor of Entomology and African-American studies and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 2018.^[9] She also teaches science communication.^[10] She studies the way that herbivores, plants, micro-organisms and insects make use of volatile and non-volatile chemical signals.^[9] These include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that mediate conversations between plants, herbivores and microbes.^[9] Ngumbi believes that better urban agriculture can help to combat unhealthy eating.^[11] In 2019 Ngumbi delivered the plenary lecture at the British Ecological Society annual meeting.^[12]

She was awarded the 2017 Emerging Sustainability Leader Award and Women of Colour Award.^[13][14] In 2018 Ngumbi was awarded the Society for Experimental Biology's President's Medal.^[15]

Ngumbi is an active science communicator and has contributed to Mail & Guardian, The Moth, Scientific American and the World Economic Forum.^{[16][17][18][19]} She has appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio.^[20] Ngumbi was selected by Barack Obama to be part of the Young African Leadership Initiative.^[12] She mentors young researchers through the Clinton Foundation. She has campaigned for girls from rural communities to have better access to education, particularly in science and technology.^[4] Working with her family, Ngumbi helped to establish Dr Ndumi Faulu Academy, a school in her hometown that serves over 100 middle school students.^[1][21][22] in 2021 Ngumbi was awarded the Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[10]

Her publications include:

• Ngumbi, Esther (2016). "Bacterial-mediated drought tolerance: current and future prospects". Applied Soil Ecology. 105: 109–125. Bibcode:2016AppSE.105..109N. doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2016.04.009.
• Ngumbi, Esther (2009). "Comparative GC-EAD Responses of A Specialist (Microplitis croceipes) and A Generalist (Cotesia marginiventris) Parasitoid to Cotton Volatiles Induced by Two Caterpillar Species". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 35 (9): 1009–1020. Bibcode:2009JCEco..35.1009N. doi:10.1007/s10886-009-9700-y. PMID 19802643. S2CID 5921837.
• Ngumbi, Esther (2012-12-01). "Comparison of associative learning of host-related plant volatiles in two parasitoids with different degrees of host specificity, Cotesia marginiventris and Microplitis croceipes". Chemoecology. 22 (4): 207–215. Bibcode:2012Checo..22..207N. doi:10.1007/s00049-012-0106-x. S2CID 14865498.