Karen Beard

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

Wildland Resources

I have been a professor of Conservation Biology at USU for 12 years. I earned my BA at UC Berkeley, and MS and PhD degrees at the Yale School of Forestry. I currently serve as a board member for the Society of Conservation Biology and am an editor for Biological Conservation. The research in my lab spans a broad range of topics but is focused on species interactions and subsequent impacts on ecosystem processes, especially involving invasive species and climate change. I currently have projects in Hawaii, Alaska, Brazil, and Utah. I work on taxa ranging from amphibians to birds to plants. The ultimate goal of my research is improve management decisions for conservation. I think it is extremely important for professors to provide research opportunities to undergraduates. Last summer, I mentored two USU undergraduates working on independent research projects with me in Alaska and Hawaii. I believe it is important to mentor these students in all phases on the research process. I also believe in conducting research in the classroom. For three years in my undergraduate course, students were involved in national projects that resulted in publications in Bioscience and Biological Conservation.