John Smith

S. J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources

Wildland Resources

I am a wildlife spatial ecologist; my research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of animal movement behavior. I have my BSc and MSc degrees from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where I was born and raised. I earned my PhD from the University ofGuelph, Canada. I joined the Department of Wildland Resources at USU as an assistant professor in August 2018. My students and I are conducting research on a variety of fundamental and applied ecological questions, with a particular focus on large ungulate species such as mule deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. I teach two graduate-level courses – ‘Space-Use Ecology’ and ‘Foundations in Advanced Ecology’ – and an undergraduate course – ‘Ecology of our World’ (a Breadth Life Sciences course introducing ecology and evolution to non-majors). I am also actively involved in undergraduate research at USU. In addition to providing feedback on research proposals as an URCO reviewer, I typically have 1-2 paid undergraduate technicians and 1-2 volunteers engaged in research in my lab. These students are an integral part of my research group, and are encouraged to take part in all lab activities, including weekly meetings, paper discussions, and professional development initiatives.