Meet the Team
Michael Birt B.S./M.S.
Founder- President
Michael Birt graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. degree in wildlife and fisheries science after which he began working for the Fort Worth Zoo. He then left the zoo to pursue a M.S. degree in animal behavior and physiology. During the publishing process of his research he was hired at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas as a hoofstock animal care specialist; he quickly became the internship director, research liaison, and the first video marketing supervisor for Fossil Rim. After successfully publishing his research in the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science and working at Fossil Rim for several years he moved to New Orleans to work for the Audubon Nature Institute to assist in starting up the hoofstock breeding program at the Audubon Species Survival Center.
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The interest in STEM education began in 2009 after he finished a study abroad and summer marine biology/terrestrial ecology internship with James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.
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During his master’s he participated in a summer internship in South Africa. This experience really sparked the idea of ResearchWild! which started as a film project highlighting the lives and jobs of conservation professionals. Since 2015, ResearchWild, Inc has sent many students to Southern Africa for amazing wildlife conservation internships, has donated and supported its international hosts in ground breaking research, and has made connections with 100s of universities, hosts, and wildlife professionals.
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Brandi Liberty B.A./MBDA
Vice President
​​​​Brandi Liberty, a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and descendant of the United Houma Nation, is a respected tribal consultant with over 15 years of experience. As CEO of The Luak Group, she has secured over $78 million in grants for tribal communities, specializing in areas such as business development, Indian housing, grant writing, and strategic planning. A co-author of "Womanhood: Identity to Intimacy and Everything in Between," Liberty is also a keynote speaker and columnist, offering insights into tribal life in Louisiana and beyond. She is an MBDA Enterprising Woman of Color and serves on various boards, including the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center and Research Wild. Liberty holds a BA in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s degree from the University of Kansas, with a specialization in Tribal Human Resources, an Executive Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School, a Leadership Certificate from Arizona State University’s American Indian Policy Institute Indigenous Leadership Program.
Devin Preston B.S./M.S./Ph.D
Research Director
Devin is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from University of Missouri in 2007, an M.S. in Biology from Texas State University in 2013, and his PhD in Integrative Biology from University of New Orleans in 2020. He has numerous articles published in the scientific journals of Thermal Biology, Herpetology, and Fish and Wildlife Management. Through academia and extensive outreach experiences he has developed his goal, which is to involve researchers from diverse disciplines to provide holistic answers to important research questions in the realms of ecology, sociology, and natural resource management.
By working with researchers to develop complementary projects that promote the One Health concept, ResearchWild! can contribute to the creation of comprehensive solutions to complex problems. He ultimately wants to combine theoretical and practical knowledge to create methods that are beneficial both to specialists and laymen. He believes this work will bring him into contact with diverse demographics, and that he will serve not only as a director of research, but also an ambassador.