Activities

“One of our aims is for WYOBIRD to transcend borders by recruiting high-caliber graduate students from diverse backgrounds from across the globe to the University of Wyoming. One thing we’re all proud of is the new small grant program to help international students with moving costs or equipment such as new computers.”

— Patrick Kelley (Associate Director of WYOBIRD)

WYOBIRD activities include:

name Professional Connections
research WYOBIRD provides opportunities for students to engage in networking and discussion that can spur critical thinking and help build lasting human connections or collaborative relationships. We host invited speakers and hold in-person meetups with ornithologists from UW and external research groups. These outlets provide students with exposure to diverse topics, techniques, and tools used in avian research while establishing community with fellow students and scientists. In Fall 2023, WYOBIRD hosted the inaugural Front Range Ornithology Conference, which was attended by 37 ornithologists from the region, including eight faculty-level scientists, three post-graduate researchers, and 26 graduate students. These individuals represented University of Wyoming (17), Colorado State University (11), University of Northern Colorado (5), University of Colorado-Boulder (3), and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (1).

name Quantitative Workshops
research WYOBIRD also aims to provide new quantitative skills for students, as well as faculty, by facilitating on-campus workshops that cover cutting-edge themes. In fall 2023, this included a workshop led by invited instructors from Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology on analyzing eBird datasets. In Spring 2024, Dr. Gabe Barille (UW) gave a multi-day workshop on using the package RMark for demographic analysis.

name Scientific Communication
research Communicating science is a valuable skill for scientists and students alike. We use digital and in-person outreach to inform various audiences of the unique bird research that scientists and their students conduct at the University of Wyoming. This includes presenting at professional conferences or to community groups such as local Audubon societies and sharing our stories and discoveries via social media and university-sponsored media outlets.
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