Kristen Ross

Dr. Kristen Ross is an Assistant Professor and the Program Coordinator for the Wildlife and Forest Conservation Program at Vermont State University. She began teaching at the Castleton campus of VTSU in 2019. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolution from Rutgers University and her B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. Her technical training is in plant and soil ecology, and her research areas focus on the control and management of invasive and non-native plants, the dynamics of urban and human-impacted forests, the decision-making processes in the social-ecological system of ecological restoration, and most recently associations between the density of invasive shrub species and black-legged tick abundances. She has worked on restoration projects or research both in an out of academia with conservation organizations, land trusts, local and federal management agencies, and private companies. Current student projects she has mentored include milkweed phenology studies, assessment of wildlife use of the campus natural areas, invasive crayfish population dynamics, and ecological aspects of black-legged tick abundances in private forested lands. Dr. Ross teaches courses in the Natural Sciences Department such as Ecology, Introduction to Field Conservation, Natural History and Identification of Woody Plants, Conservation Biology & Biogeography, and Wildlife Ecology & Management. If you are a prospective student looking for a career in the conservation sciences, please reach out for more information about the WFC Program.