Associate Professor of Biology Diana Lafferty joined the NMU faculty in 2017 and established the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science Lab (WECOS Lab). In collaboration with myriad state, federal and international partners, she has led diverse research initiatives across the United States and around the world to advance wildlife ecology and conservation.
Lafferty's research is motivated by the idea that a greater understanding of how wildlife populations–and their associated communities and ecosystems–respond to global change is essential for developing science-informed strategies to conserve Earth's biodiversity. However, she also believes that science alone cannot save species from extinction, but that the intentional inclusion of people with diverse knowledge, experiences and identities in ecological research and conservation is requisite for creating a more humane and just world for all people and the wildlife that share our planet.
For that reason, her intentionally diverse, inclusive and professionally productive wildlife-focused research program supports a diverse and vibrant community of undergraduate and graduate student scholars in the pursuit of generating new ecological knowledge that will support the conservation of wildlife and wild spaces around the world.
Lafferty earned her doctorate in forest resources at Mississippi State University, a Master of Science degree in ecology and conservation from Florida Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University.