Dr. Wenfei Tong 857 246 9360 [email protected] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Multi-faceted experience with environmental communication, conservation leadership, and science; particular strengths include: ● Passion for scientific and environmental communication and education using multimedia. ● Deep personal ties to the American West and an international perspective. ● Strong scientific background with analytical, organizational, and communication skills. ● Extensive experience inspiring an appreciation for nature in diverse audiences, including donors, ranchers, minorities, and young voters, through public speaking, guiding, and writing. ● Established trusting relationships with diverse stakeholders including local politicians, business owners, non-profit boards, government agencies, community volunteers, and students. ● Developed and implemented innovative and collaborative outreach, community conservation, and science education programs. ● Managed budgets totaling over $4 million. ● Established and mentored cohesive teams of people with diverse backgrounds. ● Advocated for diversity and inclusion within environmental conservation, education and STEM. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Author and environmental advocate ● Author of two popular science and natural history books: Bird Love and Understanding Bird ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Behaviour, both published in the US by Princeton University Press, 2020. ​ ● Speaking in fundraisers e.g. for BirdLife International on a panel with Margaret Atwood ● Invited speaker at writing festivals e.g. Bendigo, Australia ● Podcasts and radio, including for BirdNote, NewBooksNetwork, BirdCallsRadio, and FieldNotes. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Public talks using birds as conservation ambassadors and illustrated with my paintings and photography, including for Environment for the Americas, Seattle Town Hall, Audubon, Science on Tap, Delaware Nature Society, and the San Diego Natural History Museum. ​ ​ ● Articles and book reviews for publications including Natural History, Psychology Today, The Montana Naturalist, and Times Higher Education. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Oct 2019-Present Springer Nature Associate Editor, Nature Communications New York, ​ NY ● Science communication; including writing press releases and heading the Editor’s Highlights for Ecology and Evolution. ​ ​ ● Working under tight deadlines with a team to edit and commission papers in conservation, ecology, evolution, and genetics. ● Communicating directly with the scientific community and mediating between academics. ● Founding member of the Diversity and Inclusion working group and mentor in the Nature ​ Communications Early Career Researchers Scheme. ​ 2018-Present Big Sky Safaris LLC Owner and Founder Missoula, MT ● 3 years of experience sharing my passion for nature and land conservation through bespoke tours on foot and on horseback. ● Adapting on the spot to connect with diverse client interests and backgrounds, ranging from Japanese visitors in their 70s to minority Millennials from Los Angeles. ● Established collaborations with local outfitters, ranchers, guest ranches, and conservation nonprofits including the 7 Lazy P, E Bar L, The Montana Natural History Center, Five Valleys Land Trust, Clark Fork Coalition, and Five Valleys Audubon. ● Designed business logo and website (with my photographs), managed email campaigns, client lists, multiple social media pla​ tforms a​ nd marketing sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. 2018-2019 University of Alaska, Department of Biology Term Assistant Professor in Biology Anchorage, AK ● Taught Introductory Biology to over 300 non-science majors using flipped classroom ​ ​ techniques, group work, and a final multimedia project on science communication for a general audience. ● Developed and taught a course on Evolution for biology majors with an emphasis on writing. ​ ​ ● Introduced biology majors to key scientific skills such as experimental design, data analysis, writing, and public speaking through interactive laboratory sessions. ● Mentored graduate students in research and teaching. ● Invited workshop participant to mentor students in writing for a general audience as part of a OneHealth conference organised by the University of Alaska. 2016-2018 University of Montana Missoula, MT Research Scientist and Program Coordinator, 2017-2018 Avian Science Center and Boone and Crockett Club Chair, College of Forestry ● Managed two grant budgets with over $4 million in funds from private donors, endowments, and government agencies; wrote grant applications and progress reports. ● Developed a community science platform for long-term bird monitoring on the National Bison Range with help from Montana Audubon, the USFWS, and Salish Kootenai College. ● Contributed ways to diversify the target audience for conservation during board meetings. ● Represented the Avian Science Center at Montana Bird Conservation Partnership meetings with state and nonprofit stakeholders. ● Hired and mentored field technicians to research the effects of prescribed burns and bison grazing on grassland birds. Faculty Research Assistant Professor, 2016-2017 Division of Biological Sciences ● Taught Genetics and Evolution to over 300 students, through which I inspired and mentored at least thr​ ee students to continue​ in research and conservation. ● Managed and mentored a team of five graduate teaching assistants. ● Developed research collaborations in Japan and Taiwan. 2015-Present Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Research Associate Cambridge, MA ● Ongoing research collaborations on the genetics of endangered Grevy’s zebras in Kenya with the Mpala Research Centre, San Diego Zoo, and Princeton University. ● Naturalist and guest lecturer for the Harvard Natural History Museum and National Geographic 2013-2015 University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology Postdoctoral Research Associate Cambridge, UK ● Coordinated, mentored field teams of up to 10 people in Zambia, including local children and graduate students from the University of Cambridge. Skills I taught range from mist-netting birds to using a GPS to driving a 4WD pickup through mud. ● Maintained and strengthened relationships with local ranchers and farmers who allowed us to conduct fieldwork on their land. ● Collaborated with researchers at Boston University and Zambian ranchers to study evolution and genetics of brood parasitic birds including the cuckoo finch and greater honeyguide. 2005-2012 Harvard University Cambridge, MA ● Head Teaching Fellow for courses Understanding Darwinism and Animal Behaviour, where I coordinated lab sections for over 20​ 0 students and managed ​ 10 te​ aching assistants​. ● Teaching Fellow for Vertebrate Viviparity, Evolutionary Biology, Foundations of Biological ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Diversity, and a Harvard Summer School course run at Oxford, Darwin and Evolution, which ​ ​ ​ involved leading independent discussion sessions on the Origin of Species, taking ​ ​ undergraduates into the field in the mountains of North Wales, and teaching students to develop and write original term papers on topics of their choice. ● Developed an independent field system in Bulgaria to study the social behavior of mound-building mice. This included making contact with and gaining the trust of local landowners, politicians, and researchers in Bulgaria and Hungary. ● Mentored five undergraduate assistants both in the laboratory and in the field. ● Collaborated with other students researching ant-acacia symbioses in Kenya and deer mice in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. 2001-2005 Princeton University Princeton, NJ ● Undergraduate teaching assistant for the Natural History of Mammals ​ ● Wrote for the university newspaper and science magazine ● Developed techniques for the noninvasive genetic sampling of wild zebras for senior thesis ● Field and laboratory assistant: bird banding and radiotracking, hormone assays, ancient DNA EDUCATION 2005-2012 Harvard University Cambridge, MA PhD, Biology 2004 University of Oxford, Worcester College Oxford, UK Visiting Student, Commendation for Outstanding Academic Achievement 2001-2005 Princeton University Princeton, NJ AB, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, summa cum laude ​ LANGUAGES & COMPUTER SKILLS Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, Microsoft Office, Databases and budgeting software, Website design, Social media marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), Adobe Creative Suite, Data analysis and programming in R SERVICE & OUTREACH ● Volunteer bird surveys for Five Valleys Audubon and Five Valleys Land Trust, both in Montana ● Collaborator with Francine Dollins to write and illustrate three children’s books on endangered species in Michigan ● Trip leader and guest lecturer to raise funds for the Montana Natural History Center, and the Harvard Natural History Museum, including safaris in northern Tanzania and Central Asia, and Lindblad/National Geographic Expeditions to the Galapagos, Costa Rica, and Panama ● Invited speaker for the University of Alaska, Anchorage Bookstore to provide a perspective from genetics and evolution on a multidisciplinary panel, The Search For White Identity ● Volunteer fundraising consultant for BirdLife International since 2015 ● Alumni Interviewer for Princeton Undergraduate Admissions ● STEM Ambassador to schools, Cambridge, UK ● Mentored undergraduates as a member of Harvard Women-in-Science, and as a non-resident tutor at Pforzheimer House, and Mather House, Harvard University ● Raised $1,000 by donating two of my paintings to a fund-raising exhibition in Tokyo in aid of ​ ​ post-tsunami reconstruction ● Volunteer nature