Faculty & Staff

Melanie A. Murphy

Director, Program in Ecology and Evolution | Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: ecological complexity, landscape ecology, population genetics, biodiversity, functional connectivity, ecosystem dynamics, sustainability, amphibians, carnivores, ungulates, small mammals, birds, coniferous plants, rangeland systems, ecosystem biodiversity, anthropogenic processes, species distributions, system connectivity, population persistence, landscape change

Alumni: Charlotte Gabrielson

Ellen Aikens

Assistant Professor, School of Computing & Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Areas of study and research: quantitative wildlife ecology, applied data science, animal tracking, remote sensing, field-based ecological research, wildlife habitat and resource requirements, wildlife responses to environmental change, critical habitat identification, and large landscape conservation for migratory mammals and birds

Gabriel M. Barrile

Assistant Professor

Department of Zoology and Physiology

School of Computing

Areas of Study: Our research falls at the intersection of disease ecology, population demography, and animal behavior, often investigating how natural and anthropogenic disturbances influence host-pathogen dynamics. Though we work across taxonomic systems (e.g., fish, amphibians, mammals), a common theme that bridges all our research is the use of cutting-edge techniques in data science to inform species conservation. This involves leveraging machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to analyze large datasets and integrate predictive models into user-friendly applications to aid the decision-making of wildlife practitioners.

Jeffrey Beck

Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: wildlife habitat ecology, restoration ecology, sagebrush habitat conservation, impacts of anthropogenic development on vertebrate species, habitat use by greater sage-grouse and ungulates, evaluation of mitigation techniques, conservation practices in rangeland systems, ecological responses to habitat restoration across spatial and temporal scales

Alumni: Clay Buchanan, Courtney Duchardt, Aaron Pratt, Kurt Smith, Jonathan Lautenbach

Nicole Bedford

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: evolutionary biology, systems neuroscience, genetic basis of behavior, neural basis of behavior, voluntary micturition, physiological regulation of urination, social communication through scent marking, behavioral variation in mice, aggression and territoriality in rodents, laboratory and field-based behavioral studies

Jennifer K. Bell

Assistant Professor

Department of Soil Science

Program in Ecology and Evolution & School of Energy Resources

Riley Bernard

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: applied wildlife ecology, small mammal and amphibian ecology, foraging behavior, interspecific competition, invasive species interactions, disease impacts on community structure, species susceptibility and survival, decision science applications for wildlife and natural resource management

Matt Carling

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: speciation, adaptation, avian genetics, hybrid zones, gene flow, introgression, functional differentiation in birds, evolutionary genetics of birds, mitochondrial gene evolution, effects of extreme environments on genetic adaptation

Alumni: Shawn Billerman, Paul Dougherty

Anna Chalfoun

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology | Assistant Leader, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit

Areas of study and research: wildlife-habitat relationships, habitat use and quality, ecological processes, behavioral ecology, evolutionary ecology, anthropogenic habitat change, impacts of oil and gas extraction, non-game wildlife species, sagebrush ecosystem ecology, songbird ecology, small mammal ecology, herpetofauna ecology, life history patterns, avian parental care

Alumni: Gabriel Barrile, Jason Carlisle, Katherine Gura, Embere Hall

Dave Christianson

Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: top-down effects, bottom-up effects, environmental influences on ecosystems, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, ecological interactions, applied ecology, stakeholder-driven research, ecological education and training

Mark Clementz

Professor & Department Head, Department of Geology and Geophysics

Areas of study and research: paleoecology, evolutionary ecology, marine mammal ecology, stable isotope analysis, ancient ecosystems, dietary and habitat reconstruction of extinct organisms, sirenian and cetacean evolution, geochemical analysis of fossil remains, modern ecosystem studies, nutritional ecology, manatee feeding habits, desert tortoise ecology

Alumni: Morgan Churchill

Tim Collier

Department Head & Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: insect ecology, biological control, applied entomology, host specificity in biological control agents, behavioral ecology of insects, population ecology, weed management, non-target species impact, parasitoid wasp interactions, parasitoid-host food webs, species coexistence, invasive species control

Alumni: Rebecca Upjohn

Sarah Collins

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: freshwater ecosystem ecology, elemental cycling, food web dynamics, water quality, ecological patterns and processes, temperate and tropical freshwater ecosystems, large-scale ecological synthesis, human impacts on aquatic ecosystems, land-use change, climate change effects on freshwater systems, interdisciplinary ecological research

Ellen Currano

Professor, Department of Botany & Department of Geology and Geophysics

Areas of study and research: paleoecology, fossil plants, ancient forest ecosystems, environmental perturbations, taxonomic diversity, ecosystem structure, plant-insect interactions, biogeography, climate change impacts on ecosystems, Paleogene climate change, hothouse climate periods, evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, East African ecosystems, field-based and specimen-based research, interdisciplinary collaboration, science outreach, gender and diversity in science

Alumni: Lauren Azevelo-Schmidt

Michael Dillon

Professor & L. Floyd Clarke Chair, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: physiological ecology, organism-environment interactions, insect physiology, flight physiology, thermal physiology, alpine ecosystems, overwintering physiology, native bee ecology, climate variation impacts on organism physiology, fieldwork, laboratory experiments, ecological modeling, insect adaptation to diverse environments

Alumni: Susma Giri, Kennan Oyen

Kelly Dunning

Timberline Associate Professor of Sustainable Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Areas of study and research: collaborative governance of wildlife and land (public and private), climate adaptation through participatory research, hunter and angler experiences, recruitment-retention-reactivation (R3), the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, public policy for access and diversification in hunting and angling, and trout conservation in the context of climate and social systems

Brent Ewers

Professor & Department Head, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: plant physiology, mass and energy fluxes in plants, plant organ to landscape scale processes, nonvascular plant ecology, woody and herbaceous plant physiology, forest ecosystem processes, bark beetle-induced mortality, vegetation and hydrological cycle, plant stress responses, plant genetics, environmental stress impacts on plants

Alumni: Julia Angstmann, John Frank, Kusum Naithani, David Reed, Heather Speckman

William Fetzer

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: fisheries management, freshwater ecosystems, aquatic food webs, anthropogenic perturbations, climate change, invasive species, eutrophication, spatial and temporal ecological responses, direct and indirect ecological drivers, conservation science, stakeholder engagement, management and policy development, isotope tracers, organismal ecology, population ecology, community ecology

Tucker Furniss

Assistant Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: forest ecology, tree mortality, disturbance ecology, western landscapes, climate impacts on forests, forest management, ecological processes, forest structure and function, forest resilience, field-based monitoring, remote sensing, process-based simulation models, science-based management, public land policy

Sara Germain

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: dendroecology, community ecology, tree survival mechanisms, forest change, climate change, disturbance regimes, bark beetles, invasive pathogens, fire ecology, forest composition and structure, edaphic features, tree anatomical characteristics, tree mortality causes, forest resilience and resistance, climatological and environmental impacts on forests, forest community dynamics, tree-enemy interactions, ecosystem state changes

Sean Giery

Associate Research Professor, Zoology & Physiology

Our research explores the interactions between evolutionary and ecological processes in wild vertebrate populations. Specifically, we want to better understand how organismal diversity evolves in contemporary time and influences ecological dynamics—typically at community and ecosystem levels. Our approach is integrative and often draws on existing datasets, mechanistic modelling, experiments, and large-scale field studies—usually in reptiles and amphibians.

Sean Harrington

Research Scientist, Senior

Molecular Biology

Areas of study and research: population genetics, genomics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, selection at hybrid zones, spatial structure of genetic variation and selection, snake evolution and speciation.

Caleb Hazelwood

Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion

Areas of study and research: philosophy of biology, metaphysics of science, biological explanation, the relationship between biological practice and metaphysical theory, reflective equilibrium between science and philosophy, and the role of metaphysical principles in scientific reasoning

Joe Holbrook

Associate Professor, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources & Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: population ecology, community ecology, species distribution, environmental change, animal roles in ecosystems, human-environment interactions, conservation, land management, policy implications, ecological theory, applied ecology, mammalian carnivores, carnivore ecology, rangeland and forest ecosystems, wildlife management, species-environment relationships, theoretical and applied research integration, multidisciplinary collaboration

Kristina Hufford

Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: restoration ecology, conservation biology, evolutionary ecology, plant adaptation, local adaptation, population-level variation, genetic diversity, plant community sustainability, native plant restoration, spatial ecology, intraspecific hybridization, molecular genetics, bioinformatics, selection patterns, ecological genetics, plant population dynamics, community ecology, long-term restoration outcomes, adaptation to local environments, field and genomic approaches

Gonzalo Irisarri

Assistant Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: rangeland ecology, energy transfer in grazing systems, satellite-based estimation of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), forage quality (e.g., crude protein content), remote sensing, impacts of extreme events on ANPP, and development of accessible ecological data applications

Matthew Kauffman

Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology | Leader, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit

Areas of study and research: wildlife ecology, population dynamics, demography, community ecology, trophic interactions, herbivory, predation, landscape ecology, applied conservation, large mammal ecology, carnivore-prey dynamics, ungulate ecology, predator-prey relationships, ecological restoration, conservation management, elk and wolf interactions, raptor recovery, wildlife management, range management, ecological monitoring, cooperative research, Rocky Mountain ecosystems, field-based ecology, human-wildlife interaction, conservation biology

Alumni: Ellen Aikens, Brett Jesmer, Doug Keinath, Arthur Middleton, Anna Ortega

Patrick Kelley

Research Scientist, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: animal behavior, behavioral ecology, bioacoustics, ecological statistics, quantitative behavioral analysis, physiology, stress hormones, tropical ornithology, predator-prey interactions, climate vulnerability, phenotypic plasticity, complex phenotypes, natural selection, ecological modeling, artificial intelligence in ecology, deep learning, causal AI, field-based behavioral research, tropical birds, jumping spiders, Panama, Hawaii, conservation behavior, environmental stressors, evolutionary ecology, selective pressures, competition, predation, species interactions, behavioral adaptation, interdisciplinary ecology

Corrine "Corrie" Knapp

Associate Professor, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Areas of study and research: climate change adaptation, conservation, livelihoods, social-ecological systems, indigenous knowledge, Western landscapes, rangelands, sense of place, sustainability, human-ecological interactions

John L. Koprowski

Dean & Professor, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Areas of study and research: ecology, conservation biology, biodiversity management, community-based conservation, wildlife management, international conservation, applied ecology, mammals, environmental policy, sustainability

Amy Krist

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: parasitology, invasion biology, ecological stoichiometry, host-parasite interactions, evolutionary ecology, aquatic ecology, life history evolution, freshwater ecosystems, non-native species, trophic dynamics

Alumni: Michele Larson

Daniel Laughlin

Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: quantitative ecology, plant communities, global change, trait-based models, ecological processes, community assembly, species interactions, environmental gradients, ecosystem restoration

Alumni: Alice Stears, David Atkins

Isaac Ligocki

Assistant Professor

Areas of study and research: Areas of research and study: Integrative behavioral biology primarily in the context of fish and amphibians facing environmental change. Chemical pollution, invasion ecology, physiological and behavioral impacts of environmental stressors, social behavior.

Biological Sciences, 416

Rongsong Liu

Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics & Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: mathematical biology, differential equations, dynamical systems, infectious disease modeling, ecological systems, deterministic models, theoretical analysis, numerical simulations, quantitative behaviors, biological interpretations

Jeffrey Lockwood

Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion & Creative Writing Program

Areas of study and research: environmental ethics, natural resource ethics, environmental justice, philosophy, creative non-fiction, nature writing, interdisciplinary studies, religion and science, transcendental tradition, intellectual pluralism, pragmatism, panentheism

Alumni: Christa Cooper Summer

Jerod Merkle

Associate Professor & Knobloch Professor in Migration Ecology and Conservation, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: movement ecology, migration ecology, fitness consequences of behavior, cognition, innovation in foraging behavior, large mammal conservation, landscape-level ecological processes

Thomas Minckley

Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics

Areas of study and research: paleoecology, past climate change, arid and semi-arid ecosystems, drought, floods, fires, pollen analysis, macrobotanical remains, charcoal analysis, desert wetland dynamics, grassland change, forest resilience, fire regimes, climate change analogs

Kevin Monteith

Professor, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

Areas of study and research: nutritional ecology, field studies of large ungulates, behavior, growth, reproductive allocation, predator-prey dynamics, population growth, habitat-based management, predation, habitat alteration, climate change, migration tactics, disturbance ecology

Alumni: Ellen Aikens, Tayler LaSharr, Rachel Smiley

Urszula Norton

Professor of Agroecology and Agroecosystem Biogeochemistry, Department of Plant Sciences

Areas of study and research: ecosystem resiliency, ecosystem sustainability, biogeochemistry, nitrogen cycling, carbon cycling, agroecology, sustainable food production, climate variability, ecosystem services, greenhouse gas emissions, soil organic matter, conservation agriculture, forest regeneration, nutrient cycling, sustainable farming systems

Alumni: Liana Boggs Lynch, Chloe Mattilio

Scott Shaw

Professor

Ecosystem Science and Management

Dr. Shaw conducts research on the systematics, ecology, biogeography, and evolution of insects globally, and is regarded as an international authority on parasitoid wasps (especially the families Megalyridae, Ichneumonidae, and Braconidae). Shaw has produced more than 200 scientific publications and has discovered and named more than 200 new insect species from 29 different countries.

Dr. Jacqueline (J.J.) Shinker

Professor

Department of Geology and Geophysics

Director North Central Climate Center and Coord. Nat Geographic Wyoming Geographic Alliance

Research Interests: Paleo/Hydro-Climatology, Enviro-Change & Water

Lauren G. Shoemaker

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: community ecology, biodiversity patterns, spatio-temporal variability, species coexistence, spatial patterning, population synchrony, community synchrony, complex systems science, ecological modeling, experimental ecology

Bryan Shuman

Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics

Areas of study and research: paleoclimate reconstruction, lake-level change, water availability, ecosystem composition, vegetation history, fire history, geochemical analysis, disturbance ecology, landscape modeling, climate change impacts, sedimentary records, long-term ecosystem dynamics

Alumni: John Calder

Ramesh Sivanpillai

Research Scientist & Instructional Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Department of Botany, School of Computing & Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center

Areas of study and research: vegetation mapping, vegetation condition monitoring, land cover change, remote sensing, multispectral data, satellite imagery, airborne imagery, spatial resolution analysis, spectral resolution analysis, scale effects, earth surface feature mapping, international field sites

David Tank

Director, Rocky Mountain Herbarium | Professor, Department of Botany

Alumni: Malia Santos

Corey Tarwater

Associate Professor & Robert B. Berry Chair, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: ecology, evolution, behavior of resident birds, individual fitness, population demography, rainfall effects, habitat fragmentation, juvenile bird behavior, recruitment, invasive species, seed dispersal, life history trade-offs, bird personalities, long-term avian studies

Alumni: Samuel Case, Rebecca Wilcox

Lusha Tronstad

Head of Invertebrate Zoology Program | Wyoming Natural Diversity Database

Areas of study and research: aquatic invertebrates, pollinating insects, rare and imperiled species, ecosystem ecology, insect-plant interactions, pollination networks, aquatic ecology, climate impacts, parasitism, conservation biology, applied ecology, ecological monitoring, ecological modeling, Yellowstone Lake, wind facility impacts on insects, isotopes and nutrient dynamics

Linda van Diepen

Associate Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management

Areas of study and research: soil microbial communities, nutrient cycling, carbon cycling, ecosystem responses to disturbance, plant-microbe interactions, forest restoration after wildfire, soil remediation of contaminated mine lands, microbial interactions with invasive plant species (e.g., cheatgrass), and effects of forest pathogens on soil microbial community dynamics

Alumni: Gordon Custer, Liana Boggs Lynch

Katie Wagner

Associate Professor, Department of Botany & UW Biodiversity Institute

Areas of study and research: speciation, diversification, population genetics, genomics, phylogenetics, comparative biology, and macroevolutionary patterns of biodiversity

Alumni: Jimena Golcher-Benavides, Jessica Rick

Annika Walters

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology & Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Areas of study and research: resistance and resilience of aquatic communities, flow alteration, climate change, nutrient loading, energy development, aquatic ecosystem conservation and management, field observation, experimentation, ecological modeling, fish conservation, and fisheries management.

Alumni: Gabe Barrile, Richard Walker, Jeff Baldock

Cynthia Weinig

Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: quantitative trait variation, genetic mechanisms of adaptation, competition, circadian rhythms, adaptation to seasonal environments, genetic basis of floral morphology, molecular genetics, natural selection, and the intersection of ecology, evolution, and genetics

Alumni: Charley Hubbard, Matthew Rubin, Yulia Yarkhunova, Alexander Hollander

Topher Weiss-Lehman

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: eco-evolutionary dynamics, global change biology, rapid evolution, spatial dynamics of ecological and evolutionary processes, invasive species, species range expansions, climate-driven range shifts, theoretical ecological modeling, laboratory experiments with model organisms, and conservation in the context of climate change

David Williams

Professor, Department of Botany

Areas of study and research: plant-environment interactions, savanna ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, desert ecosystems, plant roles in water cycling, carbon cycling, nitrogen cycling, cellular to ecosystem-scale processes, short- and long-term ecological timescales, and responses of water-limited ecosystems to climate change, atmospheric chemistry changes, and shifts in vegetation composition

Alumni: Janet Chen, Jiemin Guo, Abigail Hoffman

Jessie Williamson

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Areas of study and research: elevational migration, behavioral and physiological adaptation across elevation gradients, evolutionary ecology and ecophysiology of birds, genomic and transcriptomic responses to elevation, organismal plasticity and adaptation, spatial patterns of biodiversity across abiotic gradients

Marketa Zimova, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Climate change biology, Conservation biology, Wildlife responses to environmental change, Field-based ecology, Small mammals, Predator–prey interactions, Snow ecology, Contemporary evolution and adaptation, Museum-based research, Artificial intelligence in ecology.