Luke R. Wilde

I grew up in Butte, Montana, a mile-high mining town set atop the crown of the continent. My family and I spent innumerable days collecting minerals, antler-sheds, and skulls, only to pour over them later. Through my adventures, I quickly found my community among the trees.

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During my undergrad at Gonzaga University, I was captivated by education, the outdoors, and science. As a Sophomore I studied abroad in Ecuador, where time in the Amazon forest and Galapagos Island honed my field skills and sharpened my interests in ecology and evolution. The next summer, I was an NSF-REU student at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, where I studied the social impacts of roost-site temperature in a species of micro-bat.

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After graduation, I taught high-school wildlife ecology courses in Yellowstone National Park and volunteered on various ecology projects studying deer mouse physiology, junco phenotypic plasticity, and predator-prey interactions following wolf reintroduction. From this diverse set of experiences and the skills they imparted, I set my sights on the climate-related phenology and community ecology. As a graduate student with the Senner Lab of the University of South Carolina, I do research, filmography, and educational outreach.

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When I am not working, I am using all of my available time to be alpine rock climbing, backcountry skiing, and spending time with friends and family.

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