Who are we? (Part 1)

Hello visitors! My name is Yiwei Wang and I am one of the researchers on the Ecology Alaska project.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Like many suburban kids, I didn't pay much attention to the natural world around me (although I always loved wildlife) and never imagined that I would grow up to be a conservation biologist!


 However, while studying abroad in Australia during college, I became enthralled by the amazing biodiversity of that ancient continent. As I learned more about the fragility of this and other ecosystems across the world, I decided that I wanted to build a career around studying and preserving these irreplaceable natural resources.

Currently, I am a PhD student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. I work primarily on the Santa Cruz Puma Project with Dr. Chris Wilmers studying the impacts of human development on the behavior of pumas. In addition to my research, I am also active in science education and have given dozens of public lectures about my work, led numerous field trips, and am developing a Facebook game based around my research. I live with my husband and two cats in the lovely Santa Cruz Mountains. To find out more about me and my work, check out my website here!