Murry (she/her) grew up in the suburbs of MN, FL, TN, and MS with an interest in the wildlife around her. She followed this interested into a B.S. degree in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University. She also earned my Associate Wildlife Biologist® certification from The Wildlife Society. She went on to grad school at North Carolina State University to pursue a Ph.D. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. After completing her dissertation, she became a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. As an urban ecologist and ornithologist, Murry researches the impacts of anthropogenic stressors on songbird metabolic health and physical development. She is also a children’s author and public scientist. As a DEI activist, she was driven to start Field Inclusive based on her own experiences living in predominantly white areas of the Deep South and determination to make the road easier for future wildlife professionals.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, birding, photography, video games, and snuggling with her dog, Loki.

Lauren (she/her) is an avian ecologist and Ph.D. Candidate at North Carolina State University (NCSU) pursuing her degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Her current research focuses on studying the effects of climate change on nestling success in the federally threatened Red-cockaded Woodpecker. She earned her B.S. degree in Environmental Biology from Wingate University in 2019 and her M.S. degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from NCSU in 2021. Aside from her research, Lauren is an engaged and award-winning science communicator with written and contributed pieces haven appeared in a variety of outlets including National Geographic and WIRED and has served as a member on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Wildlife Society. Lauren is an advocate for Black and historically excluded minorities in STEM; she serves on multiple committees including NCSU’s Forestry and Environmental Resources’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee and co-founded a nonprofit: Field Inclusive, which seeks to amplify and support marginalized and historically excluded individuals in the outdoors. Both her research and advocacy work led to her being awarded many accolades, including the North Carolina Wildlife Federation’s 2023 Governors Conservation Achievement Award for Young Conservationist of the Year, the highest honor in the state of NC in the wildlife space. She currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Meredith (she/her) is an ecologist operating at the intersection of conservation, computer science, and engineering. As the head of the conservation technology team at the international wildlife NGO, Fauna & Flora International, she supports conservation and rewilding programs across a global portfolio. After earning her PhD in Ecology & Evolution at University of Minnesota, she went on to conduct postdoctoral research at Cedar Creek LTER and Princeton University. She is an editor for multiple scientific journals, sits on the steering committees for conservation technology organizations and partnerships, and serves as an Emerging Youth Conservation Ambassador for CoalititonWILD. Meredith firmly believes that empowering underrepresented groups generates innovative ideas, novel solutions, and diverse perspectives that drive science forward and engender conservation success. She has been committed to building an inclusive and diverse STEM community throughout her academic and conservation careers, and currently focuses on upskilling and empowering marginalized researchers through her research programs and capacity-building outreach at field sites worldwide.

Jessie (she/her) is a wildlife biologist and nonprofit leader whose work focuses on building the next generation of conservation leaders. She received her B.S. in Wildlife Management from NC State University and her M.S. in Wildlife Science from the University of Tennessee Knoxville where her research focused on integrating grassland bird habitat into working agricultural landscapes. In the past 12 years Jessie has worked for the NC Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, and NC State University as a conservation practitioner, program manager, and leadership educator. Currently she serves as the Executive Director of Conservation Corps North Carolina, a nonprofit that offers paid training and internship opportunities in natural resources for youth and young adults across North Carolina. Jessie is passionate about creating safe, equitable pathways into careers in natural resources and believes that the work of organizations like FI is essential to the future of conservation. 

Sarah (she/her) draws from her deep background in community engagement and program administration, and loves building organizational infrastructures that support tangible outcomes for conservation and local communities. She earned a BA in Anthropology with a Minor in Journalism from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with a focus on how personal experiences motivate collective action and spur change within people and communities. Sarah is drawn to initiatives and business models that create sustainable, inclusive frameworks and promote meaningful pathways to impact. She served as a key administrator and innovator at North Carolina Wildlife Federation (NCWF) for more than eight years and co-chaired the organization’s Board committee on Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Awareness for two terms before becoming the Community Coordinator for the North Carolina Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry program in 2024. She has had the opportunity to work with small business owners and artisans to promote the success of local brands and has freelanced as a Food Tank Think Tank contributor and a business and media consultant. Sarah is honored to join Field Inclusive in promoting diversity, safety and opportunities for all afield as an ally, resource and cheerleader.

Viviana (she/her) earned her Bachelor’s degree at the National University of Costa Rica in Tropical Biology, and her Doctorate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, with a strong focus on population biology and quantitative ecology. The focus of her research program is to work at the interface between science and application to deepen our understanding of the environmental factors that shape where and when species occur on a given landscape to improve decision-making and conservation. Her research group works on developing and applying novel quantitative modeling techniques to understand how human drivers of land-use change (e.g. agriculture) affect biodiversity using birds as indicators. Her team works collaboratively with practitioners, decision-makers, industry, and local communities to design research that supports the development and implementation of strategies that reconcile biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and human well-being.