Sustainability Leadership Fellow Cohort: 2022-2023

Ph.D. Student, Department of Agricultural Biology

Research Summary:My research involves a transdisciplinary approach to the conservation of uncharismatic fauna, namely tarantulas. A major emphasis is on exploring the effectiveness of outreach methods across a broad spectrum of people with a range of views regarding wildlife, and how to build cooperative efforts between citizen-scientists and researchers to solve problems in biodiversity conservation.

When it comes to spiders, people usually hate them or love them. This provides a great context for understanding what methods are most effective and versatile across audiences with varying attitudes (or perspectives). The lessons learned can then be adapted to other sustainability and conservation efforts.

Advisor: Ruth Hufbauer