Vanessa Hull, Assistant Professor
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Vanessa is broadly interested in human-wildlife interactions in coupled human and natural systems. She seeks to find creative ways to bring together diverse disciplines to better understand and manage human-wildlife interactions around the world. She has particular interests in giant pandas, protected areas, conservation in China, and endangered species management.

 ​Rashidah Farid, PhD Student, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Rashidah holds her B.S. in Animal Science from Tuskegee University in Animal Science and M.S. in Plant and Molecular Biology from Alabama A&M University. Rashidah is a recipient of the McKnight Fellowship and is the current president of the Natural Resources Diversity Initiative at UF.  She is broadly interested in conservation genetics, population ecology, and natural resource management. Her M.S. research dealt with examining impacts of forest disturbance on amphibian genetics. Her PhD research examines demography and population dynamics of Gunnison’s (Cynomys gunnisoni) prairie dogs in the southwestern USA. Rashidah is co-advised by Dr. Ray Carthy.

 Martial Kiki, PhD student, Interdisciplinary Ecology

​Martial received his B.S. in Environmental Conservation and M.S. in Biodiversity Conservation from the University of Abomey-Calavi in the Republic of Benin, in addition to a postgraduate diploma from WildCRU at the University of Oxford. Martial is the recipient of a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Graduate Scholarship and  Sidney Byers Scholarship for Wildlife Conservation via the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). He is passionate about the research and conservation of large predators in West Africa. For his PhD work, Martial will examine transboundary interactions between lions, livestock, and pastoralists in the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) complex that spans Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Martial is co-advised by Dr. Madan Oli.

Christian Rivera, PhD student, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Christian earned his B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, with minors in East Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, and Latin American Studies. Christian’s undergraduate thesis used population viability analysis to understand the impacts of illegal hunting on the white-lipped peccary population in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. He then earned his M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from Columbia University in the City of New York, where he used a systemic and multidisciplinary approach to study the social and ecological dimensions of a highly acclaimed turtle management program in the Peruvian Amazon. Throughout his studies at Columbia University Christian held a research assistantship at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, where he assisted with projects focused on the conservation of biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity. He is passionate about research on endangered species conservation, wildlife trade and hunting issues, social-ecological systems, and biocultural diversity and conservation.

​Yichao Zeng, MS student, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Yichao earned his B.S. in biological sciences from Peking University, China. His undergraduate thesis used mitochondrial DNA markers to resolve phylogeographic structures of two endangered Asian box turtle species. He also conducted an independent research project looking at priority effects in milkweed-monarch interactions at the University of California, Davis. Here at the University of Florida, he is interested in using GIS and remote sensing to understand human impacts on biodiversity in Wolong Nature Reserve, China.  His proposed thesis topic examines changes in the distribution of giant pandas in a coupled human and natural system identified using GIS and participatory mapping. Read about his most recent summer field trip here. 

 Chad Wong, undergraduate student, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Chad is an undergraduate student at the University of Florida. He is the recipient of a 2018 Emerging Scholars Program award from the Center for Undergraduate Research. Chad is majoring in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and minoring in Chinese language. He is interested in large mammals, marine life, and Asian ecosystems. He will be conducting research on mammals and forest conservation in China.