Danielle N. Lee is an American assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, best known for her science

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

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

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

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 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, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

, 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 university, public research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Established in 1963, it is the newest of the four universities in the University of Missouri System. Located ...

with a Ph.D. in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

. 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 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 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. 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 scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' 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, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

as a platform to share her science and outreach, and has been recognized as a top scientist to follow on Twitter. For the show and podcast the Story Collider Lee explained that she has had to work 'twice as hard' as a woman of color in science; 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 assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

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 the #ShutDownSTEM and #ShutDownAcademia initiative, organized around the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

protests and demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd. 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. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Champions of Change – STEM Access & Diversity *2009: Diversity Scholar, American Institute of Biological Sciences *2014: EBONY POWER 100 – Social Media Influencer * 2014: The Grio 100's Class of 2014 - Science & Technology Leader *2015: TED Fellow *2017:

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

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

* Ferkin, M. H., Lee, D. N., Leonard S. T. (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-based civil rights activists 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 21st-century African-American scientists African-American social scientists African-American women writers American ecologists American mammalogists American science writers American women bloggers American women non-fiction writers American women social scientists Educators from Tennessee Human ecologists Living people Science bloggers Scientists from Tennessee Southern Illinois University Edwardsville faculty Tennessee Technological University alumni University of Memphis alumni University of Missouri alumni American women ecologists Women mammalogists Writers from Memphis, Tennessee 21st-century American non-fiction writers American social media influencers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 21st-century American women academics African-American women scientists 21st-century science writers