Twitter: Personal, WildCam Gorongosa | Instagram: Personal, Eyes on the Wild
Facebook: WildCam Gorongosa, Snapshot Serengeti, Eyes on the Wild
Facebook: WildCam Gorongosa, Snapshot Serengeti, Eyes on the Wild
Citizen Science
Citizen science is a collaboration between researchers and members of the general public, allowing people who are not professional scientists to become part of the scientific process. Our flagship programs, Snapshot Serengeti and WildCam Gorongosa, are the world’s largest and longest-running online camera trap citizen science projects, engaging >200,000 volunteers who help us to classify the millions of images collected in Serengeti and Gorongosa National Parks. Our federate citizen science initiative, Snapshot Safari, brings together additional camera trap grids from across Africa, allowing citizen scientists to explore the vast biodiversity across the continent while providing important data for science and management. I have also expanded our citizen science work to North America through our newest camera trapping project, Eyes on the Wild.
#SciComm: My goals with citizen science are not only to improve the rapidity of data process for our long-term projects, but also to use these platforms as a tool to improve public scientific literacy and appreciation for research and conservation. I use our platforms to engage with curious volunteers, break down barriers to participation in science, introducing people to real scientists and revealing the diversity in the scientific community, and share information about key questions in African ecology and wildlife conservation. I actively engage with our volunteer base online and in person, connecting through discussion boards on our platforms, social media, public presentations, virtual workshops, online lessons, and communiques from the field (see Media for links and look below for recorded webinars and other engagement videos!).
You can find me as a resource for your journalism at the following outlets:
Educational Resources: I am actively working to improve how we use citizen science as an educational tool, particularly to broaden our outreach to historically underrepresented groups that rarely have the opportunity to engage in authentic science experiences. In collaboration with HHMI's BioInteractive and UMN's Biology Teaching and Learning Department, we are creating free educational multi-media based on our work for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. We have developed and published activities, lesson plans, course curricula, videos, and interactive multi-media. In addition, to expand our outreach, I have helped to translated our flagship WildCam Gorongosa project into Portuguese so that this program can be more accessible to users in the countries where it is based. I am actively looking for Swahili-speakers and other polyglots who can assist with translations to reach new audiences - please contact me if you are interested in helping out!
#SciComm: My goals with citizen science are not only to improve the rapidity of data process for our long-term projects, but also to use these platforms as a tool to improve public scientific literacy and appreciation for research and conservation. I use our platforms to engage with curious volunteers, break down barriers to participation in science, introducing people to real scientists and revealing the diversity in the scientific community, and share information about key questions in African ecology and wildlife conservation. I actively engage with our volunteer base online and in person, connecting through discussion boards on our platforms, social media, public presentations, virtual workshops, online lessons, and communiques from the field (see Media for links and look below for recorded webinars and other engagement videos!).
You can find me as a resource for your journalism at the following outlets:
Educational Resources: I am actively working to improve how we use citizen science as an educational tool, particularly to broaden our outreach to historically underrepresented groups that rarely have the opportunity to engage in authentic science experiences. In collaboration with HHMI's BioInteractive and UMN's Biology Teaching and Learning Department, we are creating free educational multi-media based on our work for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. We have developed and published activities, lesson plans, course curricula, videos, and interactive multi-media. In addition, to expand our outreach, I have helped to translated our flagship WildCam Gorongosa project into Portuguese so that this program can be more accessible to users in the countries where it is based. I am actively looking for Swahili-speakers and other polyglots who can assist with translations to reach new audiences - please contact me if you are interested in helping out!
Documentaries, Talks, Podcasts, & Other Outreach
I am available to give public presentations and advise on my research and our on-going science and conservation projects. Here are a few engagements I have participated in:
- Mongabay Podcast "Afield at last, researchers head out for a new season": Host Mike Gaworecki and I discuss developing and testing new prototypes for emerging wildlife monitoring technologies.
- SimplyFun Educational Games "SavannaScapes": In partnership with SimplyFun, we create an educational board game that teaches young learners (ages 7-12) about the wild ecology of the Serengeti Ecosystem. A great way to get young scientists excited about habitats, keystone species, ecosystem services, and more! SavannaScapes has won four awards:
- PBS "Life at the Waterhole" / BBC "Waterhole: Africa's Animal Oasis": At a bustling African oasis, we explore the drama of wildlife interactions over a series of three episodes. I served as an on-screen scientific consultant, sharing information on predator-prey dynamics, competition, and more!
- Serengeti Lion Project: Lions are now the nexus of a global conservation movement. I give talks internationally for groups including National Geographic Expeditions and contribute to lion research and conservation articles for popular press magazines (see Media).
- Science Film Panel: Wolves are also slowly recovering their populations in North America. I joined a panel discussing wolf science for a pre-release of the movie "Alpha" for the Northstar Science Film Festival.
- Life of a Zoologist: At the Ohio Wesleyan University's Sagan National Colloquium, I shared stories about my journey through science and ways that I am actively engaged in trying to change our world.
- Lunch with a Scientist: I talked about the perils of predation and our work studying wolf-generated behaviorally-mediated trophic cascades for Cedar Creek's Ecosystem Science Reserve's Lunch with a Scientist program. See Teaching for recording.
- EarthLIVE Lessons: In collaboration with the BBC's Lizzie Daly, I had the opportunity to stream a live lesson to students about predator-prey interactions - why they're important, how we study them, and how students can become involved in real on-going research through citizen science! See Teaching for recording.
- DeepMind: The Podcast: In the AI for Science episode of Google's DeepMind podcast, I talk with host Hannah Frey about how we used artificial intelligence to study and protect African wildlife. Listen here!
- Science Pawdcast: I talk about my work unravelling species interactions in African and North American large mammal communities for Bunsen the Twitter Science Dog. Listen here!
- Camera Traps and Conservation on Instagram Live: A fun, informal chat with fellow scientist Dr. Kristen Denninger-Snyder about our on-going research programs in the Serengeti and the many ways we're working to build capacity in conservation.
- Conservation Optimism: On this episode, we talk about the power of citizen science, the importance of inclusivity and some of the surprising discoveries my research has uncovered in the Serengeti. Listen here!
- BBC World Service - Digital Planet: I discuss how new advances in artificial intelligence can be applied to tackle challenging conservation issues. Listen here!
- Blog Posts: I write guest blog posts about citizen science, ecology, field life, and conservation for Cedar Creek's Eyes on the Wild blog, the Snapshot Serengeti blog, and the SciStarter blog.
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Women in STEM
I have heavily invested in growing the next generation of women and underrepresented groups in STEM. I advocate strongly for women's rights and always try to be available to young women as the mentor I wish I had access to when starting out in science. Here are just a few of the actions I take to promote STEM women:
- Creating and leading a six-month capacity-building program for Kenyan women
- Enabling 'Gender in Conservation Technology' panel for EarthRanger User Conference
- Contributing to capacity-building workshops for Tanzanian women
- Participating frequently in "Skype-a-Scientist" and "Letters to a Pre-Scientist"
- Contributing to "1000 STEM Women", "500 Women Scientists", and "1 Million Women in STEM"
- Mentoring up-and-coming women scientists online and in-person, including taking numerous female US and African field assistants and volunteers and providing professional support to prospective PhD students through the British Ecological Society's Women in Ecology Mentoring Scheme
Media Consulting
I am available to consult on various forms of media outreach. Please see my Media page for popular press science articles I have contributed to. Here are a few of the television organizations I have worked with in the past:
- BBC Natural History Unit
- National Geographic
- PBS
- Netflix
- Plimsoll Productions
- Dotty Wild Productions
- Offspring Films
- KSTP-TV
- Independent filmmaker and students
Conservation & Management
SMART Technical Council: Supporting the development and uptake of the Spatial Monitoring and Report Tool conservation technology software.
CoalitionWILD Youth Ambassador: I was competitively selected to form part of the 2019 CoalitionWILD Conservation Youth Ambassador cohort. This program trains young conservationists to face the challenges of tomorrow by facilitating leadership growth, providing resources and networking, and teaching leadership and project management practical skills. Through CoaltitionWILD, I am working on expanding our educational reach and developing resources for international students that make the scientific experience accessible to all.
Wild Felid Research and Management Association Representative: Since 2015, I have acted as a student representative for the WFRMA, an organization dedicated to promoting the sound management, conservation, and restoration of wild felids in the Western Hemisphere through science-based management and education. I worked to connect with academic, government, and non-government organizations to collate and disseminate knowledge about ongoing wild felid research occurring in Minnesota and New England.
Camera Trap Wildlife Monitoring: We have instituted camera trap surveys within the South African National Parks system and private wildlife reserves to study the implications of adaptive management practices and conservation efforts on wildlife species. In particular, we are looking at the effects of large predator reintroduction, evaluating the effects of fencing or addition of other linear infrastructure, monitoring efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict, and collecting long-term data to understand how natural disasters and climate change are affecting wildlife community dynamics. In these efforts, we have partnered with the Gorongosa Restoration Project, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, African Parks, and South African National Parks, among many other organizations.
Predator Reintroduction: The reintroduction of large carnivores has potentially serious implications for the management and preservation of prey animals that have evolutionary but no ecological experience with historic predators. I am working to understand the effects of repatriating predators across Africa and North America. The data I am gathering on the loss and retention of anti-predator behaviors in large herbivores under relaxed selection pressure can guide management practices in reserves interested in trying to re-establish these ecologically functional relationships. I have workshopped the results and implications of these projects at South African conservation and management symposia, including the International Wolf Symposium, Lion Management Forum, Savanna Science Network Meeting, and Symposium of Contemporary Conservation Practice.
Capacity Building: I have hosted a number of workshops on field techniques and data analysis in Tanzania and Mozambique, working with students and conservation practitioners.
CoalitionWILD Youth Ambassador: I was competitively selected to form part of the 2019 CoalitionWILD Conservation Youth Ambassador cohort. This program trains young conservationists to face the challenges of tomorrow by facilitating leadership growth, providing resources and networking, and teaching leadership and project management practical skills. Through CoaltitionWILD, I am working on expanding our educational reach and developing resources for international students that make the scientific experience accessible to all.
Wild Felid Research and Management Association Representative: Since 2015, I have acted as a student representative for the WFRMA, an organization dedicated to promoting the sound management, conservation, and restoration of wild felids in the Western Hemisphere through science-based management and education. I worked to connect with academic, government, and non-government organizations to collate and disseminate knowledge about ongoing wild felid research occurring in Minnesota and New England.
Camera Trap Wildlife Monitoring: We have instituted camera trap surveys within the South African National Parks system and private wildlife reserves to study the implications of adaptive management practices and conservation efforts on wildlife species. In particular, we are looking at the effects of large predator reintroduction, evaluating the effects of fencing or addition of other linear infrastructure, monitoring efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict, and collecting long-term data to understand how natural disasters and climate change are affecting wildlife community dynamics. In these efforts, we have partnered with the Gorongosa Restoration Project, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, African Parks, and South African National Parks, among many other organizations.
Predator Reintroduction: The reintroduction of large carnivores has potentially serious implications for the management and preservation of prey animals that have evolutionary but no ecological experience with historic predators. I am working to understand the effects of repatriating predators across Africa and North America. The data I am gathering on the loss and retention of anti-predator behaviors in large herbivores under relaxed selection pressure can guide management practices in reserves interested in trying to re-establish these ecologically functional relationships. I have workshopped the results and implications of these projects at South African conservation and management symposia, including the International Wolf Symposium, Lion Management Forum, Savanna Science Network Meeting, and Symposium of Contemporary Conservation Practice.
Capacity Building: I have hosted a number of workshops on field techniques and data analysis in Tanzania and Mozambique, working with students and conservation practitioners.