Lauren Lyon graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, and subsequently earned her Master of Science in Geosciences from East Tennessee University. Currently she is finishing her PhD after a successful defense on March 8, 2024, in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Her areas of specialty include: wildlife biology, climate change refugia, geographic information systems (GIS), data management, and ecosystem ecology. 

She was one of two 2022 Science to Action Fellows for the United States Geological Survey, and continues working with the Northeast and Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Centers to produce actionable products for practitioners to incorporate climate change data into their decision-making and management criteria (see the results here).

Additionally, Lauren has finished as a Directorate Fellow with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for the summer of 2023, where she worked to create a conceptual model identifying priority waterfowl habitat on the landscape within the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture (see the presentation to the LMVJV Board here or the shorter presentation here). Her DHA for the Department of the Interior is expected upon doctoral degree conferral in May 2024.

Lauren continues to volunteer with the LMVJV to see this model come to fruition and publish this work to serve as a basis for other wetland work. She also volunteers with USFWS at the Erwin National Fish Hatchery in her spare time. Additionally, Lauren is consulting through American Conservation Experience (ACE) for the USFWS on the Landscape Recovery Tool and integration of State Wildlife Plans into an online Data Visualization Tool through July 2024.