Susannah Lerman (2010)
Fellowship Year: 2010
Academic Background: University of Massachusetts Amherst - PhD 2011- (Biology/Urban Ecology)
Susannah is a Ph.D. candidate in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Working with the National Science Foundation-funded Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, a multi-partnered approach to understanding urban ecology in the Sonoran desert, she investigates how humans interact with native wildlife, both directly and indirectly through landscaping plantings, and how these actions in turn, influence urban biodiversity. Susannah incorporates long-term bird monitoring and behavioral experiments to evaluate if yards landscaped with native plants can help reverse the loss of urban biodiversity. To help combat the rift between people and nature, Susannah recruits local schools and private Phoenix residents to assist with her doctoral research. These citizen scientists conduct bird foraging experiments in their backyards, helping to uncover the mechanisms structuring urban bird communities. Susannah received her MS in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England where she studied the winter ecology of a small migrant owl in southern Israel. Prior to her graduate studies, Susannah spent five years volunteering on a Kibbutz in southern Israel. She helped establish a desert bird reserve, initiated a community-based recycling effort, and promoted eco-tourism through birding tours. In May 2010, she was a Fellow with the Quebec Labrador Foundation Middle East Exchange Program on Developing Strategies for Community-based Natural Resource Management. Upon completion of her PhD, Susannah plans to apply scientific information towards management and policy decisions in urban and suburban areas with the goal of improving relations between people and urban wildlife.
Expertise: Conservation Science & Biology