Dr. Paul Evangelista is a research ecologist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL). His research has extended across a broad array of interests including invasive species, forestry, rare and endangered wildlife, ethnobotany, ecosystem services, biological soils, post-fire succession, and climate change. 

In 1999, Paul traveled with to the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia; a trip that would dramatically influence his life’s path. In 2000, he co-founded a non-profit organization called The Murulle Foundation, with the mission to “maintain the balance between cultural and natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa”. Through the foundation, he has helped facilitate reforestation programs, technical training for natural resource managers, the discovery of new wildlife populations, construction of water-supply system, education in primary schools in rural communities, and many other grass-root initiatives.