John Vanek

I'm currently the Postdoctoral Associate in Urban Wildlife Ecology and Evolution at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, and a Visiting Scholar at SUNY-ESF working on the SquirrelMapper project.

I earned my BS in Wildlife Science at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where I was president of our student chapter of TWS and captain of our quiz bowl team (Go Stumpies!). For my MS at Hofstra University, I studied the spatial ecology and biogeography of eastern hog-nosed snakes. For my PhD at Northern Illinois University, I partnered with the Lake County Forest Preserve District to better understand the ecology, conservation and impacts of management of wildlife in a suburban preserve district (from salamanders to mesocarnivores).

During, after, and between my undergrad, masters, and PhD, I've been fortunate to have worked for the USFWS, USDA, the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, consulting firms, various universities (Purdue, Florida State, Southern Illinois), and a municipal conservation department. I've worked with both game and non-game species, as well as in the control of nuisance species. I also spent two years as an environmental educator, which, although exhausting, was probably the most rewarding part of my career so far.

March 2013