Joshua Tewksbury is the Director for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, where he oversees more than 400 employees, an annual budget of $35 million, and the institute’s research facilities throughout Panama and field sites in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In addition to its resident scientists and support staff, STRI’s facilities are used annually by some 1,400 visiting scientists, pre- and postdoctoral fellows, and interns from around the world. Dr. Tewksbury is an ecologist with more than two decades of research in conservation and biodiversity, as well as nearly a decade of executive leadership experience at international research institutes. He is the co-founder and executive editor of Anthropocene magazine, a publication that highlights sustainability solutions. He holds faculty positions at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State, and George Mason University’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy. He also has an appointment as a senior scholar with Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology.

Over the course of his research career, Dr. Tewksbury has published more than 85 scientific papers on topics in conservation, climate change, and natural history, including the relationships and diversity of tropical plants, animals, and fungi. He holds a bachelor’s degree in field biology from Prescott College and a doctorate from the University of Montana in organismal biology and ecology.