Kiki Jenkins graduated with Honors from the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a B.S. in Biology and then, as an NSF Graduate Fellow, she received her PhD in 2006 from Duke University by pioneering a new field of study into the invention and adoption of marine conservation technology. Dr. Jenkins worked as an environmental consultant for the Natural Resource Defense Council, helping to change regulatory measures on how fishing gear is used on the US west coast. She spent two years as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the National Marine Fisheries Service's Office of International Affairs. Dr. Jenkins currently studies the process of conservation in order to distill conservation theory and codify best practices.