University of Wisconsin–Madison
When Sam Helle was growing up in the middle of Milwaukee, she didn’t expect to someday be a conservation biologist surveying tiger populations in the foothills of the Himalayas. She had always been drawn to animals, but, living in the city, didn’t have much exposure to wildlife. “When I originally started school, I was pre-vet, …
From the age of three, Nelson Institute environment and resources PhD student Gabi Fleury wanted to travel to Africa and be a conservationist. Fleury, who uses they/them pronouns, has a passion for human-wildlife conflict mitigation that’s evident in everything they do. From finding ways for humans and carnivores to coexist across the globe to designing a predator …
Depending on where it’s from, your next steak could come with a side of illegal deforestation. That’s because despite improvements by meatpackers to keep their supply chains free of cattle grazed on protected or illegally deforested lands, many slaughterhouses in Brazil — the world’s top beef exporter — continue to purchase illegally pastured animals on …
Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) and Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology assistant professor, Zuzana Buřivalová is the 2021 recipient of the Nature Award for Driving Global Impact (DGI). This award, which includes a $30,000 prize, recognizes Buřivalová‘s efforts to further biodiversity protection in tropical forests. “We are proud of …
Deep in Borneo’s rainforest, among the 10,000 species of plants and a canopy of trees, one might hear the growl of a Clouded leopard, the howl of an orangutan, or the call of the Rhinoceros hornbill. While the animals are illusive to the eye, their sounds echo through the forest; which is exactly why Zuzana …
For students aspiring to research or study internationally, receiving a Boren Award means an opportunity to pursue their interests around the globe. The awards, administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with support from the National Security Education Program (NSEP), give students opportunities to study and research international languages, cultures, and global issues. Two …
Karen Strier, a Vilas research professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been featured in the Women in Conservation series by National Geographic Brazil. For 38 years, Strier has maintained a long-term study site on a protected reserve in southeastern Brazil near the city of Caratinga, in the state of Minas Gerais, where she studies a species of …
From the lush rainforests of Napo Province, Ecuador, to the golden shores of Coron Island in the Philippines, Nelson Institute alumna April Sansom has traveled the world to work with communities on land rights and conservation initiatives. A long-time believer in the power of community-based conservation, Sansom focuses much of her work on small-scale conservation …