James Fischer is the Research Director at White Memorial Conservation Center, where he oversees ecological monitoring and volunteer research initiatives across the organization’s 4,000 acres. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Forestry from the State University of New York in Syracuse, where his graduate work focused on the epidemiology of Lyme disease and white-tailed deer density. Before joining White Memorial, he worked in the Adirondacks, at Fire Island National Seashore, and with the University of Connecticut’s biology collections, later conducting small-mammal surveys for the state. A Connecticut native, Fischer first explored White Memorial’s trails as a child and returned years later to lead its research program. Outside of work, he serves on the boards of Aton Forest and the Constance B. Ripley Land Trust, and enjoys cooking—especially experimenting with global cuisines inspired by his mother, a home economics teacher.