Pearson received his B.S. from Texas A&M University in 2017 and is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia where he received his M.S. under the mentorship of Dr. Tracey Tuberville. His graduate studies focused on the effectiveness of head-starting as a recovery tool for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise, spending nearly 2 years in the Mojave National Preserve in southern California, USA. Since selecting conservation as his lifelong pursuit, Pearson has gained international conservation experience on projects in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, and South Africa. Pearson joined the African Chelonian Institute in 2020, committing to the conservation of Africa’s turtles and tortoises. He is especially interested in applied conservation techniques and their efficacy in herpetology.