Jarod Raithel
ABOUT ME:
I completed the final year of my PhD at Utah State University in August 2017, where I was awarded a Presidential Doctoral Research Fellowship. I am a broadly trained population ecologist with a background in public education, ultimately interested in engaging students in applied research to aid in the conservation of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.
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My disseration focuses on the relationships between black bear behavior, spatial ecology, and population dynamics within human-dominated landscapes by making use of a long-term data set provided by Bear Trust International and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. During my MS at the University of Montana, I worked cooperatively with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to quantify the sources of neonatal calf elk mortality within a multi-predator system.
While here at USU, I have served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Co-Instructor, and Full Instructor. I was recently awarded a Robins Award for USU Graduate Student Teacher of the Year, as well as the Graduate Instructor of the Year by the Quinney College of Natural Resources. Between my MS and PhD, I spent seven years teaching numerous secondary science courses from small rural to large inner-city public schools in South Texas to a STEM charter on Maui, Hawaii.
When not in the field or the classroom, I enjoy traveling with my wife and two young children. I am a certified PADI Divemaster, and spend as much time in the water as possible. My wife and I lived in Thailand in 2008-09, where we assisted in opening the Koh Ra ecolodge and I served as a Reef Check Team Scientist.
