Hi. I’m Tom. I make science films, videos, and social media. Infographics, photography, and I write, too. Plus, I teach stuff about science and media-making.

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Director. Reporter. Editor. Animator. Videographer. Creative Strategist. Amazon and Serengeti Explorer.

Tom McNamara at a junior ranger program teaching kids about birds

Also, I’m an educator and park ranger.

In fact, that’s me with a Eurasian Eagle-owl in a National Park Service standard-issue Smokey Bear hat during a Junior Ranger program about birds.

So, a little about me. I’m an award-winning science multimedia journalist, content creator, and filmmaker with over a decade of experience. I make videos, write stories, take photos, design infographics, and develop creative strategies. I’ve made stuff for PBS (like PBS Digital Studios and PBS Nature), Popular Science (where I was the Head of Video, Editorial & Branded), and The Field Museum (where I traveled the world with scientists). Making science films is how my reflection ended up in one of the most perfectly round objects on planet Earth—a silicone sphere used to redefine how we measure things in the universe. But, that’s not all I do.

I was a National Park ranger at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge along the coast in Queens, New York. I developed lesson plans, produced educational materials, and led classes about urban ecology and climate change for NYC school kids. For National Geographic Student Expeditions, I taught high schoolers nature photography in Yellowstone National Park. At New York University, I guest lectured about how to make science videos for a Science, Health & Environmental Reporting program class.

Teaching, designing lesson plans, and working with curriculum has a lot in common with making science media. There’s no better way to learn a thing than by telling a story about it.

Recently, I made a short science film about the brain for Pioneer Works Science Studios. I also made a climate science video series for Columbia Climate School. The National Park Service even asked me back, this time without the Smokey Bear hat, to make a few retro style PSAs about “Leave No Trace” (this is your brain… this is your brain while littering.) And as part of a National Science Foundation grant, I developed a STEM science communication course at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which will provide graduate students with the tools to turn research into visual media (course starts fall 2024).

Currently, I produce multimedia content, including vertical science videos for Instagram Reels, at the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Drop me a line at thomas.r.mcnamara@gmail.com and say hello.