Rick Boyd, M.Ed.

Rick Boyd is a Wisconsin native, hailing from Wauwatosa WI, a suburb of Milwaukee. He received his BA degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, majoring in zoology and his Master of Education degree from National Louis University-Chicago. Always fascinated by science and nature, he had a collection of assorted animals as pets throughout his childhood, including breeding several types to sell to pet stores as my first business ventures as a teenager. My life has been an example of “lifelong learning.” He currently teaches in the Physics Department at Marquette University.

In addition, Boyd researches and breeds several varieties of tropical frogs in his personal “frog room” lab. Wild populations of many of these frog species in Central and South America are threatened in their native habitats, due to extreme amounts of deforestation, as well as being collected and sold into the pet trade, both legally and illegally. Some of the tropical frogs he breeds are categorized as “critically endangered,” one step away from going “extinct” in the wild. Others are listed as “endangered.” We are in a race against time to “crack the codes” regarding successful captive breeding of these species before they go extinct in the wild. Boyd focuses on the concept of “Conservation through Commercialization” whereby his breeding of these species in captivity can “take the pressure off” the wild populations being harvested for the pet trade and/or educational exhibits.