Danielle N. Lee is an American assistant professor of biology at

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

, best known for her science

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ging and outreach efforts focused on increasing minority participation in STEM fields. Her research interests focus on the connections between

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

and evolution and its contribution to animal behavior. In 2017, Lee was selected as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. With this position Lee traveled to Tanzania to research the behavior and biology of landmine-sniffing African giant pouched rats.

Early life and education

Danielle N Lee was born originally from

South Memphis, Tennessee South Memphis, one of the oldest portions of Memphis, Tennessee, is a community stretching from Midtown and Downtown to the Mississippi state line. In its early days, it was primarily an agrarian community. South Memphis has many well-known neighb ...

and she earned her bachelor's degree from Tennessee Technological University in 1996. While she intended to go into

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

, after being rejected from veterinary school four times, she began studying olfactory behavior in meadow voles and found her passion to pursue academic research. In 2000, Lee earned her MS from the University of Memphis, and in 2010 Lee graduated from the

University of Missouri–St. Louis The University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) is a public research university in St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1963, it is one of four universities in the University of Missouri System and its newest. Located on the former grounds of Bel ...

with a Ph.D. in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. In her thesis, Lee proposed a new system of describing animal personality traits from more subjective, emotional descriptors, to observational adjectives.

Research and career

As of 2017, Lee teaches mammalogy and

urban ecology Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings ...

. 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 syndrome In behavioral ecology, a behavioral syndrome is a correlated suite of behavioral traits, often (but not always) measured across multiple contexts. The suite of traits that are correlated at the population or species level is considered the behavi ...

s and the potential role of genetics in these behavioral differences. Lee has expanded her research to examine behavioral differences of small rodents across urban gradients in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. 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.

Advocacy and public service

From 2006 to 2011, Lee published the blog ''Urban Science Adventures!'' before joining the ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' Blog Network, where she wrote ''The Urban Scientist'' blog from 2011 to 2016. 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"). 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. Lee's outreach efforts focus on sharing science with the general public and the under-served, particularly through outdoor experiences and social media outlets. Lee founded the National Science and Technology News Service, 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. Lee also avidly uses

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

as a platform to share her science and outreach, and has been recognized as a top scientist to follow on Twitter. Women of color are underrepresented in STEM fields – making up only 10% of the workforce. As a woman of color in science, Lee has continuously experienced challenges regarding her race and gender. For the show and podcast

the Story Collider The Story Collider is a US-based non-profit group dedicated to telling true, personal stories about science. Their mission is to empower both scientists and nonscientists alike with the skills they need to tell these stories and share them throu ...

she explained how she has had to work 'twice as hard'; in 2013, Lee was invited to contribute to the science website ''Biology Online'' by a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

ous 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". 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. Ultimately, Ofek was fired by ''Biology Online'' because of the incident. In June 2020, Lee was a contributor to th
#ShutDownSTEM
and #ShutDownAcademia initiative, organized around the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

protests and demonstrations following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

. 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.

Selected awards and honors

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Champions of Change – STEM Access & Diversity *2009: Diversity Scholar,

American Institute of Biological Sciences The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific charity. The organization’s mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science and society. Overvie ...

*2014:

EBONY Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

POWER 100 – Social Media Influencer * 2014:

The Grio TheGrio, styled as thegrio, is an American television network and website with news, opinion, entertainment and video content geared toward Black Americans. The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News, it became a di ...

100's Class of 2014 - Science & Technology Leader *2015:

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

Fellow *2017:

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Emerging Explorers *2018: Plenary Speaker at annual

British Ecological Society The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It is the oldest ecological society in the world. The Society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest ...

meeting

Selected works and publications

* M. H. Ferkin; D. N. Lee; S. T. Leonard (April 21, 2004). "The Reproductive State of Female Voles Affects their Scent Marking Behavior and the Responses of Male Conspecifics to Such Marks". ''Ethology''. 110:257-272. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2004.00961.x

Personal life

Lee is related to the

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

-based

civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

s The Lee Sisters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Danielle African-American activists 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American zoologists Academics from Tennessee Activists from Tennessee African-American bloggers American bloggers African-American non-fiction writers African-American scientists African-American social scientists African-American women writers American ecologists American mammalogists American science writers American social commentators American women academics American women biologists American women bloggers American women non-fiction writers American women social scientists Educators from Tennessee Human ecologists Living people Science blogs Scientists from Tennessee Southern Illinois University Edwardsville faculty Tennessee Technological University alumni University of Memphis alumni University of Missouri alumni Women ecologists Women mammalogists Writers from Memphis, Tennessee 21st-century American non-fiction writers Social media influencers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women educators 21st-century African-American women