Danielle N. Lee | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | |
| Known for | The Urban Scientist (blog) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Individuals Differences in Exploratory Behavior of Prairie Voles, Microtus ochrogaster (2010) |
| Doctoral advisor | Zuleyma Tang-Martínez |
| Other academic advisors | Alexander G. Ophir |
| Website | about |
Danielle N. Lee is an American assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, [1] best known for her science blogging and outreach efforts focused on increasing minority participation in STEM fields. Her research interests focus on the connections between ecology and evolution and its contribution to animal behavior. In 2017, Lee was selected as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. [2] With this position Lee traveled to Tanzania to research the behavior and biology of landmine-sniffing African giant pouched rats. [3]
Danielle N. Lee was born originally from South Memphis, Tennessee and she earned her bachelor's degree from Tennessee Technological University in 1996. While she intended to go into veterinary medicine, after being rejected from veterinary school four times, she began studying olfactory behavior in meadow voles and found her passion to pursue academic research. [4] In 2000, Lee earned her MS from the University of Memphis, and in 2010 Lee graduated from the University of Missouri–St. Louis with a Ph.D. in Biology. [1] In her thesis, Lee proposed a new system of describing animal personality traits from more subjective, emotional descriptors, to observational adjectives. [5]
As of 2017, Lee teaches mammalogy and urban ecology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. [1] Her research specializes in rodent behavior in both urban and rural settings. Her current focus of study is the African giant pouched rat, examining the extent to which they exhibit behavioral syndromes and the potential role of genetics in these behavioral differences. [6] [7] Lee has expanded her research to examine behavioral differences of small rodents across urban gradients in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. [1] In 2012, Lee traveled to and lived in Tanzania to collect data about the African giant pouched rat for the "Wild Life of Our Homes" project. Centering on female rat biology, Lee aims to increase research about female biology that has been understudied in the animal kingdom.
From 2006 to 2011, Lee published the blog Urban Science Adventures! [8] before joining the Scientific American Blog Network, where she wrote The Urban Scientist blog from 2011 to 2016. [9] Through her posts, Lee covered her experience as a research scientist, issues relating to STEM diversity, and urban ecology (what she calls "science you can see in your backyard"). [5] Her blog aimed to connect the scientific community with under-served and underrepresented populations, primarily African-American youth, through scientific explanations that were easily understandable. [10]
Lee's outreach efforts focus on sharing science with the general public [11] and the under-served, [12] particularly through outdoor experiences and social media outlets. [13] Lee founded the National Science and Technology News Service, [14] a now-defunct media advocacy group focused on increasing interest in STEM and science news coverage within the African-American community. She has received many honors for her efforts to increase minority participation in STEM fields, and was named a top TED fellow 2015. [15] Lee also avidly uses Twitter as a platform to share her science and outreach, and has been recognized as a top scientist to follow on Twitter. [16]
Women of color are underrepresented in STEM fields – making up only 10% of the workforce. [17] As a woman of color in science, Lee has continuously experienced challenges regarding her race and gender. [18] [19] For the show and podcast the Story Collider she explained how she has had to work 'twice as hard'; [20] in 2013, Lee was invited to contribute to the science website Biology Online by a pseudonymous editor named "Ofek". When Lee declined to contribute to the website without compensation, Ofek allegedly responded by asking whether Lee was "an urban scientist or an urban whore". [21] Lee rebuked Ofek on The Urban Scientist; however, the editor-in-chief of Scientific American, Mariette DiChristina, quickly removed Lee's response from the network. Although the removal of the blog post was allegedly due to legal concerns, Scientific American was widely seen as censoring Lee, causing outrage. [22] [23] [24] [25] Ultimately, Ofek was fired by Biology Online because of the incident. [26]
In June 2020, Lee was a contributor to the #ShutDownSTEM Archived 2021-11-04 at the Wayback Machine and #ShutDownAcademia initiative, organized around the Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd. [27] The group called for STEM and other academic departments across the United States to hold all daily activities, including teaching, research work, and service responsibilities, on June 10, 2020, in order to reflect on how racism and privilege may affect those in their academic spaces; participate in local protests, and; learn about the history of anti-Black violence and racism. [28]
Lee is related to the Memphis-based civil rights activists The Lee Sisters.[ citation needed ]
Scientific American, informally abbreviated SciAm or sometimes SA, is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Prize-winners being featured since its inception.
Rita Rossi Colwell is an American environmental microbiologist and scientific administrator. Colwell holds degrees in bacteriology, genetics, and oceanography and studies infectious diseases. Colwell is the founder and Chair of CosmosID, a bioinformatics company. From 1998 to 2004, she was the 11th Director and 1st female Director of the National Science Foundation. She has served on the board of directors of EcoHealth Alliance since 2012.
Elaine V. Fuchs is an American cell biologist known for her work on the biology and molecular mechanisms of mammalian skin and skin diseases, who helped lead the modernization of dermatology. Fuchs pioneered reverse genetics approaches, which assess protein function first and then assess its role in development and disease. In particular, Fuchs researches skin stem cells and their production of hair and skin. She is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development at The Rockefeller University.
The Gambian pouched rat, also commonly known as the African giant pouched rat, is a species of nocturnal pouched rat of the giant pouched rat genus Cricetomys, in the family Nesomyidae. It is among the largest muroids in the world, growing to about 0.9 m (3 ft) long, including the tail, which makes up half of its total length. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal to Kenya and from Angola to Mozambique from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
Brigid L. M. Hogan FRS is a British developmental biologist noted for her contributions to mammalian development, stem cell research and transgenic technology and techniques. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Duke University, Born in the UK, she became an American citizen in 2000.
Marlene Zuk is an American evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist. She worked as professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) until she transferred to the University of Minnesota in 2012. Her studies involve sexual selection and parasites.
Judith P. Klinman is an American chemist, biochemist, and molecular biologist known for her work on enzyme catalysis. She became the first female professor in the physical sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1978, where she is now Professor of the Graduate School and Chancellor's Professor. In 2012, she was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society.
Ashanti Johnson is an American geochemist and chemical oceanographer. She is the first African American to earn a doctoral degree in oceanography from Texas A&M University.
Kay M. Tye is an American neuroscientist and professor and Wylie Vale Chair in the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Her research has focused on using optogenetics to identify connections in the brain that are involved in innate emotion, motivation and social behaviors.
Meghan Anne Duffy is an American biologist and the Susan S. Kilham Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. She focuses on the causes and consequences of parasitism in natural populations of lake populations. In 2019, she created a task force to examine factors that influence the mental health and well-being of graduate students at the University of Michigan.
Patience Mthunzi-Kufa is a South African physicist and head of biophotonics research at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. She received the Order of Mapungubwe in Bronze.
Beronda Montgomery is a writer, science communicator, and researcher. In 2022, she moved to Grinnell College as professor of biology and vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. Prior to Grinnell, Montgomery served as Michigan State University Foundation Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. She was also a member of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. Her research group investigates how photosynthetic organisms adapt to changes in their environment. Her scholarship extends beyond biology and into studying mentorship and faculty development to develop evidence-based strategies to foster equity and inclusion in academia. Together with Tanisha Williams and other members of the Black Botanists Week organizing committee, Montgomery co-founded and co-organizes Black Botanists Week.
Sarah E. Diamond is an American ecologist and biologist who is currently the George B. Mayer Chair in Urban and Environmental Studies at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A climate scientist, Diamond's research focuses on predicting how ecological and biological systems will respond and adapt to the changing climate.
Shelly B. Flagel is an American behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the underlying brain mechanisms of reward and addiction. She is an associate professor of psychiatry in the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan.
Elba E. Serrano is a neuroscientist and biophysicist who holds a position as a Regent's Professor of Biology at New Mexico State University.
Linda Sue Schadler is the Dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont. Her research investigates the mechanical, optical and electric behaviour of polymer composites. She is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and ASM International.
Rebecca Marie Calisi is an American neuroendocrinologist, wildlife biologist, and National Geographic Explorer. She is an Associate professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis. She leads a research team that studies how the brain controls sexual behavior, reproduction, and parental care, and how this changes under stress. As the Director for Science Communications at UC Davis, she studies science communication and advocates for inclusivity, equity, and diversity in STEM.
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