[2][3] In 2016, the symposium "Science with Passion and a Moral Compass" was held to honor his career as a scientist and activist.
[6] Vandermeer has conducted field research mainly in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua[7] and Guatemala.
His research has focused on the dynamics of spatially explicit biological interactions in coffee farms in Mexico.
His long-term collaboration with a multi-national team of scientists focused on tropical rainforest dynamics after major hurricane disturbance in Nicaragua.
[10] Vandermeer and his colleagues Dr. Ivette Perfecto, Dr. Douglas Boucher and Dr. Inigo Granzow de la Cerda contributed to the groundwork that evolved into the university system in the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.