Mr. and Mrs. Allan Keith of Chilmark announce the engagement of their daughter, Lucy Ward Keith, to Tomas Diagne of Dakar, Senegal.

Miss Keith received her bachelor of science from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., her master of science from the Boston University marine program and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine. Miss Keith is also employed as a research scientist by Wildlife Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization based in New York city. She has worked for federal, state and nonprofit research organizations both nationally and internationally, and has a wide range of field experience with endangered species, including penguins, sea turtles, the Hawaiian monk seal, and Florida, Antillean and West African manatees. She was awarded the Manatee Conservation Award by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003, and she is a member of International Union for the Conservation of Nature sirenian specialist group and the United Nations Environment Progam, Convention of Migratory Species, West African manatee working group. Miss Keith currently conducts research and conservation training work for West African manatees in Gabon, Angola, Senegal and Ghana, West Africa.

Mr. Diagne is the son of Ms. Kine Senghor of Dakar, Senegal and Dr. P. Anthioumane Diagne of Rufisque, Senegal. Mr. Diagne’s great uncle was Leopold Senghor, first president of independent Senegal, and also the country’s most famous and respected poet. Mr. Diagne graduated from the National Institute for Rural Development with a degree in land use planning and from Zchortau in Leipzig, Germany, where he received a certification in tropical protected areas land use planning. He is an African turtle expert, and is also involved in conservation work with African manatees and baobab trees. He founded both S.O.S. Sulcata and the Village des Tortues in Senegal for the conservation of Senegal’s endangered tortoises, and in 1998 he was selected as an Associate Laureate by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. He is a member of the IUCN Specialist Groups on Tortoises, Freshwater Turtles and Marine Turtles, and the Turtle Survival Alliance. Mr. Diagne conducts turtle and manatee research for nonprofit conservation organizations including World Wildlife Fund, Wetlands International, Oceanium Dakar and Nature Tropicale. He is also in the process of building the African Chelonian Research Institute in Senegal, a conservation, education and research center for all African turtle species.

A March 2010 wedding is planned in Saly, Senegal and a September 2010 wedding is planned in Chilmark.