Wildlife Projects Win Seed Grants From UW WyldTech Center

Four innovative projects that aim to use technology to help Wyoming wildlife have received seed funding from the University of Wyoming's new WyldTech Center for Wildlife, Technology and Computing.

WyldTech, a new center in UW's Science Institute, is dedicated to using cutting-edge technologies, big data and computational advances to conserve Wyoming wildlife. The inaugural 2024 seed grant competition aims to spur new interdisciplinary collaborations that advance the frontiers of knowledge, guide human-wildlife coexistence and produce useful products for Wyoming and beyond.

The call for proposals, which drew a diverse array of submissions, closed June 15. After a rigorous review process, the selection committee named four winners:

-- "Merging Edge Computing and Biologging to Classify Foraging Behaviors in Wild Raptors," led by researchers Ellen Aikens and Jian Gong, of UW's School of Computing, and Teton Raptor Center researchers Bryan Bedrosian, Zach Bordner and Iqbal Hossain.

-- "Autonomous Wide Area Wildlife Searching and Tracking Using Drones Fleet -- An AI-powered Algorithm Optimized for Energy and Unreliable Communication," led by Zejian Zhou, an assistant professor in UW's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

-- "Can Weapons Provide Multiple Defenses? Thermal Benefits of Sexual Traits," led by Kevin Monteith, a professor and Wyoming Excellence Chair in UW's Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Rebecca Levine, an assistant research scientist in the Monteith Shop.

-- "Using Cloud-Based Infrastructure for Data-Driven Decision-Making: Initial Implementation with a Winter Severity App," led by Jerod Merkle, the Knobloch Professor in Migration Ecology and Conservation in UW's Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Shannon Albeke, a senior research scientist with UW's Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center and the School of Computing.

"The first round of WyldTech seed grants represents a pivotal step in harnessing technology and innovation for wildlife conservation," WyldTech Director Michael Dillon says. "These projects exemplify the kind of interdisciplinary, forward-thinking research that WyldTech was designed to support. We look forward to the impact these projects will have on wildlife conservation and management."

About the University of Wyoming WyldTech Center for Wildlife, Technology and Computing

WyldTech leverages new technologies, big data and computational advances to understand and conserve Wyoming's wildlife on working and changing landscapes. By building inclusive spaces that support productive interdisciplinary collaborations, WyldTech broadens knowledge frontiers, guides human-wildlife coexistence management and produces useful products for Wyoming and beyond. For more information, visit www.uwyo.edu/science-initiative/wyld-tech/index.html.