Shah Selbe

He founded the first solely conservation technology makerspace and nonprofit prototyping lab called Conservify , which uses open source technology to empower local communities to bring innovative tools into how we change our planet’s’ future. Over the last few years, Conservify has built open source hardware for use in the field on National Geographic expeditions and through our network of scientists and conservationists. Our work has included water quality characterization in Peru’s Boiling River, biodiversity protection in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, tracking glacial melt in Canada’s Banff National Park, understanding the behaviors of Congo ‘s lowland gorillas, helping citizen scientists monitor water in the Amazon Rainforest, drone-based monitoring of Sri Lanka’s blue whales, and many more diverse activities across the globe. This work has been honored as a 2010 Boeing Exceptional Service Award, 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Semi-Finalist, 2011 Ocean Exchange Gulfstream Navigator Finalist, 2011 Katerva Award Nominee, 2013 National Geographic Society Explorer Award, 2014 UCR Outstanding Alumnus Service Award, 2015 PopTech Social Innovation Award, 2016 Rolex Award Finalist, and a National Geographic Society Fellowship (2016-2019) and many grants.

Shah is also a Nelson Institute Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Madison, a New England Aquarium Ocean Conservation Fellow, and a PopTech Social Innovation Fellow. Before becoming a conservation technologist, Shah spent 10 years as a rocket scientist building and launching satellites with Boeing.