background photo: Zach Snavely
bio photo: Clara Hoffman |
Taylor Renee Ganz, PhDI am a wildlife ecologist at the University of Washington, where I study how ungulates are influenced by predators, forage dynamics and large scale landscape change, including wildfire, timber harvest and climate change. I completed my PhD in 2022 on the Predator-Prey Project under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Prugh and in collaboration with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. For my master's, I attended the Yale School of the Environment (MS 2017), where I studied the impacts of air pollution on an alpine watershed in the Wind River Range, WY. As an undergraduate, I studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California (BS 2010) and Physics at Lewis and Clark College (BA 2009).
Fundamentally, I seek to understand how humans influence ecological processes to guide wildlife and public lands conservation and management, particularly within the American West. I draw on my extensive background in leading research teams and wilderness expeditions to collect data from remote locations. Before my academic career, I worked as a Senior Field Instructor at NOLS, wilderness ranger, horse-packer, teacher, and climbing guide. Outside of my life as a scientist, I like to trail run, ski, and fly-fish. |