Dr. Jen Miller is a wildlife conservationist dedicated to protecting biodiversity and strengthening human-wildlife coexistence globally. Her research has informed wildlife policy and management on issues such as human-wildlife conflict, endangered species conservation, protected area management and wildlife trafficking. She brings a global perspective to her work, with experience in Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America. Jen also contributes to efforts to remove the historical barriers for women and people of color working in the field of conservation, and teaches meditation classes to help conservationists integrate mindfulness into their work.
Jen works as an International Program Specialist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, where she serves as a policy advisor and program officer to combat wildlife trafficking. From 2017-2020, she was a Senior Scientist in the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife, providing scientific guidance for law, policy and field conservation programs dedicated to protecting North America's threatened and endangered species. In this role she also contributed to wildlife science and advocacy related to the US-Mexico border wall, climate change and illegal wildlife trade. Prior to joining Defenders, Jen worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with Panthera, UC-Berkeley, Cornell University and the University of Cape Town studying the ecology and conservation of African lions and leopards. Her PhD research, done in affiliation with the Wildlife Institute of India and in collaboration with WWF-India, explored the realities and people's perceptions of tiger and leopard depredation on livestock and developed predictive models to support management decision-making.
Jen has published 20+ peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, PLOS Biology, Conservation Biology and Ecology and op-eds in Scientific American and Economic & Political Weekly. Her work has received press coverage by international media outlets including the BBC World News, New York Times and Washington Post. Jen is a Fulbright Scholar, a Critical Language Scholar and a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholar, and has received awards for the practical applications of her science. She earned a PhD in Ecology from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 2015 and a BA in Organismal Biology from Claremont McKenna College in 2007.
As a meditation teacher, vegetarian and childfree individual, Jen aims to align her actions with her environmental values. Outside the office, she enjoys meditation, bird watching, painting wildlife, baking pies and kayaking the "wild" waters of Washington, DC with her ornithologist husband Dr. Sahas Barve and fellow-birdwatcher cat Idli.
Jen works as an International Program Specialist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, where she serves as a policy advisor and program officer to combat wildlife trafficking. From 2017-2020, she was a Senior Scientist in the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife, providing scientific guidance for law, policy and field conservation programs dedicated to protecting North America's threatened and endangered species. In this role she also contributed to wildlife science and advocacy related to the US-Mexico border wall, climate change and illegal wildlife trade. Prior to joining Defenders, Jen worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with Panthera, UC-Berkeley, Cornell University and the University of Cape Town studying the ecology and conservation of African lions and leopards. Her PhD research, done in affiliation with the Wildlife Institute of India and in collaboration with WWF-India, explored the realities and people's perceptions of tiger and leopard depredation on livestock and developed predictive models to support management decision-making.
Jen has published 20+ peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, PLOS Biology, Conservation Biology and Ecology and op-eds in Scientific American and Economic & Political Weekly. Her work has received press coverage by international media outlets including the BBC World News, New York Times and Washington Post. Jen is a Fulbright Scholar, a Critical Language Scholar and a National Science Foundation Graduate Scholar, and has received awards for the practical applications of her science. She earned a PhD in Ecology from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 2015 and a BA in Organismal Biology from Claremont McKenna College in 2007.
As a meditation teacher, vegetarian and childfree individual, Jen aims to align her actions with her environmental values. Outside the office, she enjoys meditation, bird watching, painting wildlife, baking pies and kayaking the "wild" waters of Washington, DC with her ornithologist husband Dr. Sahas Barve and fellow-birdwatcher cat Idli.
