Our team conducts cutting-edge research at ESF and across the globe.
Jerrold Belant
Director, Global Wildlife Conservation Center
Camp Fire Conservation Fund Professor of Wildlife Conservation
Jerrold L. Belant
Jerry is the Director of Global Wildlife Conservation Center and first Camp Fire Professor of Wildlife Conservation at ESF. He has served as a member of Council for the International Association for Bear Research and Management and Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Small Carnivore Specialist Group. Jerry is currently Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the journal Ursus. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and his Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His research interests include wildlife resource use, monitoring and population estimation, human-wildlife interactions, and international conservation.
You can contact Jerry directly at jbelant@esf.edu.
Hailey BooneGraduate Research Assistant
Hailey Boone
Hailey is a Ph.D. student working on the Isle Royale Wolf Introduction Project. Her project focuses on investigating mammal community dynamics and response to the wolves and park visitors. She received her B.S. from Virginia Tech, where her undergraduate research focused on assessing the population and morphology of Madagascar’s black forest cats (“fitoaty”). Hailey obtained her M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at North Carolina State University. For her masters, Hailey studied white-tailed deer fawn survival and population metrics across North Carolina using large-scale remote camera surveys. Her research interests include carnivore and ungulate ecology and management, predator-prey relationships, and sampling techniques to estimate abundance and movement.
Shannon FinneganGraduate Research Assistant
Shannon Finnegan
Shannon is from Sligo, Ireland and has joined the program for her Ph.D. project researching brown bear and elk habitat use in relation to timber management on Afognak Island, Alaska. Shannon completed her Master’s degree at Nottingham Trent University in 2017, where she conducted research on how environmental factors and interspecific interactions affect carnivore coexistence in the Brazilian Pantanal. Before this Shannon obtained a B.Sc Honours degree in Zoology from Liverpool; John Moores University, where she conducted research on a jaguar population in central Brazil. Shannon has been a member of the Jaguar Conservation Fund for a number of years where she assisted with long term monitoring projects in two biomes of Brazil; additionally she has worked with a tiger conflict mitigation project in India and assisted with research on a large carnivore project in South Africa. Her research interests include large carnivore ecology, conflict mitigation and conservation, while in her spare time she enjoys sports and the outdoors.
Nick FowlerGraduate Research Assistant
Nick Fowler
Nick is currently a Ph.D. student working on the Michigan Predator Prey Project. He received his B.S. from the University of Missouri writing his undergraduate thesis on elevational space use of black bears in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks while employed by the National Park Service. He also served as a research assistant in the Amphibian Acoustic Communication Lab, held technician positions working with a variety of taxa, and studied abroad at the University of Pretoria Centre for Wildlife Management in South Africa. Nick completed his M.S. in 2014 at Mississippi State in the Carnivore Ecology Lab investigating the relaxation of selective pressures in ursid den behavior while performing his field work on the Mississippi Black Bear Project. He then spent 1.5 years as a Research Associate on the Michigan Predator Prey Project. Nick’s research interests include carnivore ecology, predator-prey interactions, large mammal conservation, and human/wildlife conflict. In his spare time, Nick enjoys hunting, backpacking, and mountain biking.
Mariela GantchoffResearch Scientist
Mariela Gantchoff
Mariela is currently a Research Scientist investigating aspects of population and spatial ecology of recolonizing black bears in Missouri. Mariela received her Ph.D. addressing questions surrounding optimality, risk, and connectivity for black bears, and for her M.S. degree, she conducted research on invasive mammal and native carnivores in Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina. Mariela received her Licenciate Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, focusing on vertebrate ecology and behavior. Her research interests include conservation science, carnivore ecology, landscape connectivity, animal behavior, mitigating wildlife-human conflict, and biological invasions. In her spare time Mariela likes reading, drawing, and being outdoors hiking and watching wildlife.
Jacob HillResearch Scientist
Jacob Hill
Jacob is currently investigating global patterns in cause-specific vertebrate mortality. He recently completed his Ph.D. on anthropogenic impacts on wildlife mortality and vertebrate scavenging communities. Jacob received an M.S. in Biology from Purdue University where he studied diving behavior and population structure of hawksbill sea turtles nesting in the US Virgin Islands. He also has a B.A. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include understanding how human activities alter ecosystem structure, with a particular interest in endangered species conservation.
Amanda HollandResearch Associate
Amanda Holland
Amanda is a research associate examining niche segregation in sympatric black and turkey vultures of the coastal southeastern U.S. Her research aims to inform mitigation of increasing human-vulture conflicts, including aviation collision risks. An alumnus of University of Georgia’s Warnell College of Forestry & Natural Resources, her M.S. thesis focused on the spatial ecology of black and turkey vultures. She earned her B.S. from Oregon State University’s Fisheries & Wildlife Science, where she specialized in avian ecology and conservation. As a biologist, she’s participated in research and management of California condors, black-backed woodpeckers, marbled murrelets, piping plover, black oystercatchers, salmonids, amphibians of the Pacific Northwest, and others. A strong advocate for science education and art appreciation, Amanda balances her life of field research and data analysis with cooking, wildlife illustration, mural art, music appreciation, and other creative endeavors.
Todd KautzGraduate Research Assistant
Todd Kautz
Todd is a Ph.D. student working on the Michigan Predator Prey Project, where his research focuses on white-tailed deer survival and recruitment relative to winter weather, habitat, and predators. He received his M.S. degree in 2018 from Mississippi State University in the Carnivore Ecology Laboratory. Todd grew up on a dairy farm in New York, and received his B.T. in Wildlife Management from SUNY Cobleskill in 2012. Prior to joining the lab, he worked as a technician conducting wetland mapping in New York, bobwhite research in Kentucky, and amphibian research in Wyoming. In his free time, Todd enjoys fly fishing, hunting, woodworking, and music.
Ken KellnerSenior Research Scientist
Ken Kellner
Ken is a Senior Research Scientist currently working on deer management in New York State. Ken is originally from western New York and obtained a BS in Biology from Wheaton College (IL) and a Masters and PhD from Purdue University, where he studied plant and animal responses to forest management. His research interests include population and agent-based modeling, ecosystem responses to disturbance, wildlife disease, and open-source tools for reproducible research.
You can find Ken’s personal website at https://kenkellner.com.
Ashley LuttoOutreach and Program Coordinator
Ashley Lutto
Ashley is Outreach and Program Coordinator for GWCC. Prior to her current position, she worked on the Michigan Predator Prey Project for 5 years. She received her M.S. in General Biology from Mississippi State University in August 2019 and her B.S. in Zoology from Colorado State University in December 2013. Prior to joining the program, Ashley worked as an intern on Sango Leopard Research Project in Sango, Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe; a climate change technician in Colorado; a small mammal technician in Delaware; and an arctic goose field technician on Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada. While in Zimbabwe, Ashley also volunteered with the Lowveld Wild Dog Project. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, snowboarding, camping, kayaking and crafting.
Imani MksangaResearch Associate
Imani Mkasanga
Imani is a 2013 graduate of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Science and Conservation. Imani then worked for the Wildlife Division in the Kingupira Sector of Selous Game Reserve, serving as Sector Statistician. He also worked with the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and IGF, conducting large carnivore population surveys in Lake Manyara National Park, Masai Steppe, and Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, until August 2015 when he began working on our Serengeti Lion Project. Imani is passionate about nature and enjoys working on the Serengeti Lion Project because of his fascination with large carnivores.
Stansluas MwampetaResearch Associate
Stanslaus Mwampeta
Stan is a field biologist working on our Serengeti Lion Project. Stan completed his B.S. degree in 2010 at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, majoring in Wildlife Science and Conservation. Following his bachelor’s degree he worked as a field biologist in Serengeti National Park where he monitored lions in the Serengeti Plains and participated in the Snapshot Serengeti camera survey. He then pursued his M.S. degree, also from the University of Dar es Salaam, where he studied co-occurrence of caracals and servals in Serengeti National Park. Stan enjoys observing lions and the day to day changes in Serengeti Plains.
Beth OrningResearch Scientist
Beth Orning
Beth is currently a postdoctoral research scientist organizing the field efforts to characterize wolf introduction in Isle Royale National Park. She is also investigating aspects of wolf social organization and predator-prey dynamics during introduction on Isle Royale. Beth received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University addressing carnivore competition questions related to changes in cougar predation patterns, space use, and habitat selection in the face of expanding wolf populations in northeast Oregon. For her M.S. degree (Utah State University), she examined the effect of predator removal on greater sage-grouse ecology in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming. Beth hails from Iowa, where she earned her B.S. degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University. Her research interests largely focus on the interspecific competition, spatial dynamics, and population demography of large carnivores and she is particularly interested in research questions associated with predator-prey interactions, competition, spatial ecology, population dynamics, and applied research management.
You can find Beth’s personal website at https://sites.google.com/site/bethorning.
Tyler PetroeljeResearch Scientist
Tyler Petroelje
Tyler is currently a Research Scientist on the Upper Peninsula Deer Movement Study and a Ph.D. candidate studying patterns of carnivore resource selection and the landscape of fear for white-tailed deer as part of the Michigan Predator-Prey Project. Tyler received his M.S. degree in 2013 from Mississippi State University in the Carnivore Ecology Laboratory where his thesis addressed aspects of coyote population ecology and their consumption of white-tailed deer. Tyler graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2010 with a B.S. degree in Ecology. Tyler has also previously assisted with capturing and collaring for the Afognak elk and brown bear project and worked as a wildlife technician for the National Park Service at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan capturing and monitoring black bears. In his spare time, Tyler enjoys birding, fishing, hunting, and exploring public lands.
Sarah SchoolerGraduate Research Assistant
Sarah Schooler
Sarah is originally from Madison, Wisconsin and joined the Camp Fire Program in Wildlife Conservation for her Ph.D. on elk habitat use and timber harvest on Afognak and Raspberry Islands, Alaska. Sarah obtained a combined B.S. in Environmental Science and B.A. in Resource Management and Environmental Studies, with independent research projects ranging from grizzly bear surplus killing of salmon and bat occupancy in northern Washington to beach wrack micro-communities and nutrient leaching in the San Juan Islands of Washington. Following this, she worked in environmental science for several organizations including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Disease Lab, and the National Ecological Observatory Network. Sarah then pursued her M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Humboldt State University where she examined the impacts of climate change on avian insectivores in Kenya. Her research interests include predator-prey biology, large carnivore ecology, animal movement ecology, remote sensing, use of genetics to study population and movement ecology, and complex spatial habitat modeling.
Merijn van den BoschGraduate Research Assistant
Merijn van den Bosch
Merijn is from Antwerp, Belgium, and has joined the program for his Ph.D. project researching the Great Lakes wolf population, with special regard to spatial ecology. Before working for several conservation NGOs such as BirdLife International, he completed his Master’s degree at Ghent University with a research project on the foraging behavior of herring gulls. He also obtained a Master’s degree in Animal Behavior at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and started his academic career with a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Philosophy, with a thesis on a philosophical conceptualization of Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic”. Merijn’s research interests include human/wildlife conflict, carnivore ecology, avian ecology and conservation biology. In his spare time, Merijn enjoys bird watching, wildlife photography, hiking and observing all sorts of fauna.
Nate WehrGraduate Research Assistant
Nate Wehr
Nate is currently a Ph.D. student working on the Grand Portage Reservation as part of the Isle Royale Wolf Reintroduction Project. His current research focuses on the spatial community ecology and management of wolves, black bears, moose, and white-tailed deer. Prior to joining the Global Wildlife Conservation Center, Nate completed his MS at the University of Hawaii studying the community ecology of feral pigs and completed his BA at Oberlin College where he studied wading bird habitat selection and played on the varsity baseball team. In his free time, Nate enjoys big game hunting, sports (especially baseball/softball), and home maintenance.
