Pete is the Executive Director of Working Dogs for Conservation, which applies dogs' extraordinary abilities to further conservation through partnerships, innovation and setting standards for the conservation detection dog field. Pete also co-founded SciGaia, a technology company dedicated to solving environmental challenges by facilitating the discovery, interpretation and application of ecological information.Coppolillo received a bachelor’s degree with honors in Biology and Environmental Conservation from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. From 2000- 2010, Pete worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society, first helping to develop and implement the “Living Landscapes” framework for strategic planning of site-based conservation projects, then initiating and running the Ruaha Landscape Program in central Tanzania and finally coordinating WCS’s Conservation work in the Yellowstone Rockies of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. As a consultant he worked with and for the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center, the Yellowstone Business Partnership, American Wildlands, and the US Agency for International Development.Pete has studied Ferruginous Hawks (Buteo regalis) in North America, avian community ecology in Kenya, large herbivore ecology and herding systems in Tanzania, and has helped plan and carry out conservation strategies in Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Congo, Cambodia, Tanzania, and the United States. His publications appear in Conservation Biology, Biological Conservation, PLOS (Public Library of Science), Human Ecology, Landscape and Urban Planning, Landscape Ecology, Science, and he is Co-author of "Conservation: Linking Ecology, Economics and Culture" (2005 Princeton Univ. Press). Pete has served on the Boards of Working Dogs for Conservation, American Wildlands, Friends of Ruaha and the Laguntza Foundation.Specialties: Technical:Project Scoping, Design & EvaluationStrategic Planning and MonitoringConservation Planning Capacity Building, Including Training Needs AssessmentCommunity Engagement & CommunicationsFacilitation of Meetings, Workshops & Coalitions Technical Writing & AnalysisLandscape Ecology, Spatial Analysis & ModelingField Data Collection & ManagementGeographic: East AfricaU.S. Northern RockiesProgrammatic:GrazingHuntingEcohydrologyDisease ManagementConflict