Matthew Schlesinger Ph.D.
Chief Zoologist
mdschles@esf.edu
+1 (518) 402-8939
New York Natural Heritage Program
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
625 Broadway, 5th Floor
Albany, NY 12233-4757
Matt Schlesinger is the program’s Chief Zoologist, overseeing wildlife conservation and inventory projects ranging from beetles to birds to baleen whales. He helped describe a new species of leopard frog along the Atlantic Coast, oversaw statewide surveys for rare tiger beetles, co-authored the New York Dragonfly and Damselfly Survey, modeled habitat connectivity and responses to climate change of a variety of animal species, and helped design a whale monitoring effort for the New York Bight. He co-chairs the Steering Committee for the New York Breeding Bird Atlas III and co-coordinates the Empire State Native Pollinator Survey. He is very much a generalist. Matt has a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis, a Master's in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Environmental Forest Biology department at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and has served on multiple student committees.
Matt is originally from Manhattan but he and his family and their menagerie of companion animals make their home in downtown Albany.