Rob Mullen founded the Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship, which aims to expand environmental education and awareness of the boreal forest by providing artists with firsthand experience of wilderness on self-supported canoe expeditions. As a nationally known, award-winning wildlife and wilderness artist, Mullen combines his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Vermont and years of backcountry experience to pursue his passions of art, adventure, and conservation. He has spent decades canoeing remote northern rivers, including over twenty wilderness art expeditions with artist/researcher crews. Mullen has coordinated many of these expeditions with the Smithsonian Institution Arctic Studies Center, conservation NGOs, outdoor corporations, and provincial tourism agencies. He lives in West Bolton, Vermont, on an old hill farm with his wife, father, three rescue dogs, and a stray cat who won't leave.