Tim Shields

As the head of a conservation technology company I am applying decades of experience as a field biologist to the task of adapting emerging capacity to ecological management. Many of the most valuable things I've learned about Earth and biology have come by walking thousands of desert miles as a biologist - searching for tortoises. I think "Outside the Box" because I have spent so much time outside boxes discovering the astounding complexity and beauty of the wild world. I have learned that collaborating with engineers is much more valuable than commiserating with wildlife biologists. The can-do spirit of engineering must be massively applied to the ecological and conservation challenges we face.

Having witnessed the steep decline of the desert tortoise, the primary subject of my work over 35 years as a field biologist, I am dedicated to keeping the species on the planet, but in the process to learn how the techniques we apply can be used elsewhere and for the benefit of other species. I am working to weave together the three main strands of my professional life - conservation technologies, biological research, and teaching - to pass on what I have learned to as many people as I can. Knowledge only becomes wisdom when it is shared.

With my company, Hardshell Labs, I've begun exciting work with inventors, educators, technologists, entrepreneurs and funders of cutting edge conservation innovations, distilling what I have learned in a lifetime in the field into forms that will engage a wide audience in exploring and preserving their home planet. To know Earth is to love it, my job is to help people know it.