Elliott Wentworth Reed Parsons, the son of Karen and Clay Parsons of Cayou Valley Road, Deer Harbor  has received a Doctor of Philosophy Degree ( Ph.D.) in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana at Missoula.

Parsons received his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Calif. and is a graduate of Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Calif.

Parsons is employed by the State of Hawaii Department of Forestry and Wildlife and the Three Mountain Alliance, a nongovernmental organization, as Manager of the 80,000 acre  Pu’u Wa’awa’a Ahupua’a Biological and Forest Preserves on the Big Island of Hawaii. He is an expert in plant and animal ecology and biochemistry.