Dana Nelson

PhD Candidate - Wildlife and Fisheries Biology
Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department

Office: 261 Lehotsky Hall
Phone:

Email: dnelso2@clemson.edu

Educational Background

M.S. Wildlife Science
Purdue University 2017

B.S. Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
Kansas State University 2014

Profile

Dana Nelson is a Ph.D. candidate working with Dr. David Jachowski and Dr. Hila Shamon (Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute) on the reintroduction of swift foxes to the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana. Dana’s dissertation research focuses on the post-release movement, demography, and habitat associations of translocated swift foxes using data from GPS collars and noninvasively collected genetic samples. Dana earned a B.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Kansas State University. She earned her M.S. degree in Wildlife Science at Purdue University, where she used spatial capture-recapture methods to learn about small mammal population responses to forest management. Dana has coordinated and conducted fieldwork on a variety of small mammals and mesocarnivores since 2013, including a role managing recovery efforts for black-footed ferrets for the state of Wyoming. She is passionate about conservation of grassland ecosystems and is motivated to conduct collaborative, applied research that benefits prairie wildlife management and conservation decisions.

Links