Hila Shamon is the deputy executive director of science and conservation at Duke Farms. Before joining Duke Farms, Shamon directed the Smithsonian’s Great Plains Science Program at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, where she designed and led interdisciplinary research on species recovery, large-scale grassland conservation and applied ecology. Prior to that, she was the lead quantitative ecologist for Israel's National Ecosystem Assessment Program (HaMaarag). Previously, she worked as an ecologist at the Rothschild Foundation’s Ramat Hanadiv Nature Park. Shamon holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in zoology from Tel Aviv University and a B.Sc. in biotechnology and environmental sciences from Tel Hai College, Israel.