About Joanna

With her deep passion for the wild and natural world,

Joanna has spent her career publishing and teaching about evolution, ecology, and the critical conservation issues impacting wildlife interactions and adaptation.  Joanna is currently a professor at the University of Colorado – Boulder (CU). Previous to her position at CU, Joanna was a professor at University of Texas, a visiting professor at Duke University, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon, and Program Director at the National Science Foundation. She is also a Master Instructor at the Yellowstone Institute, teaching field seminars at the historical Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park. She has held numerous Editor positions for peer-reviewed science journals such as Frontiers in Mammal Science, Oecologia, PLoS ONE, Diversity, Integrative Zoology, Tropical Conservation Science, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, American Journal of Primatology, and African Primates.  

Above and beyond her research, teaching, and editorial roles, Joanna feels a sense of urgency about our world’s current extinction crisis and works towards actionable conservation solutions. In this capacity she writes as many opinion editorials as her time will allow, serves as board member and senior science advisor to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, has served as an advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme, is the co-founder of the Northwest Primate Conservation Society, and is currently serving on the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  Among her most meaningful recent contributions to biodiversity conservation has been working with a dedicated and gifted team of conservation practitioners in the effort to restore gray wolves to Colorado — a game-changing effort that brought rewilding to the 2020 general election ballot. 

Joanna’s accolades include receiving the University of Texas Presidential Award for Distinguished Research, the Vilas Associate Award for Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, as well as the highest university – wide awards for both research (R.A. Bray Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship) and teaching (Ersted “Crystal Apple” Award for Distinguished Teaching) at the University of Oregon. In 2003, she was named Oregon’s Emerald Professor of the Year. She was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – the largest scientific society in the world (est. 1848) – for her “outstanding contributions to the field of mammal feeding biology” – as well being made a Fellow of the Linnean Society – the world’s oldest society (est. 1788) devoted to the study of natural history and where Charles Darwin first proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Joanna’s passion for the natural world extends beyond academic and professional settings. She enjoys adventure travel (most recently: Antarctica and Siberia’s Wrangel Island) and backpacking in extreme conditions. In her extra time, Joanna rides horses, adds to her lifetime bird species list, plays with her two dogs, or gets lost in the mountains — sometimes all at the same time 🙂