Dr. Jen Smith is an avian ecologist whose research aims to evaluate the effects of global change on the spatial ecology, demography, and behavior of birds and, on occasion, other taxa. Her research often takes a mechanistic approach by incorporating field observations, experiments, and statistical and geospatial analyses. She is also interested in the social and psychological phenomena that drive people’s wildlife management decisions and how wildlife management influences people (i.e., the ‘human dimensions of wildlife’). By integrating results from these different lines of inquiry her overall goal is to inform strategies that promote sustainable land uses that consider both wildlife and human well-being.
Dr. Smith was raised in the New Forest National Park in southern England and completed her undergraduate at Cardiff University (BSc Zoology Hons) and her Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham (both UK) where her research focused on the effects of supplementary feeding on the behavior of woodland birds. Following her Ph.D., she completed post-docs at Virginia Tech where she evaluated habitat selection of Crested Caracaras in south-central Florida and at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she evaluated the effects of wind energy development on Greater Prairie-Chickens. She then returned to Virginia Tech as a Research Scientist where she worked on a wide range of projects focusing on wildlife conservation and management. Most recently, Dr. Smith has served as an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio where her avian ecology focused research program explored questions centered on supplementary feeding, microplastics, and rodenticides, amongst other topics. She currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Field Ornithology and is an active member of The Association of Field Ornithologists.
