Melinda Weaver, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow, CURes

melinda.weaver@lmu.edu

Dr. Melinda Weaver, Cures' postdoctoral fellow, is an urban ecologist who will primarily be responsible for the coyote long-term management project. Her primary questions involve how urbanization affects animal populations and how animals respond to changes in their environments. She is especially interested in the interactions between humans and animals in urban areas, which is why she is so excited to work on urban coyotes.

Dr. Weaver received her Ph.D. in animal behavior at Arizona State University, studying behavioral differences in birds across an urban gradient. she also spent six months in India studying urban wild dog populations during that time. While working toward her Ph.D., she also served as an adjunct professor and teaching assistant for many courses, such as human anatomy, animal behavior, behavioral ecology and introductory biology, and has mentored more than 75 undergraduate students who worked on her field team. Dr. Weaver received her B.S. in Journalism at the University of Kansas. She has worked as a sports reporter and owned a dog training business.