Congratulations to Karina Davis and Nikki Zuber who each received awards at the college Honors Award Ceremony to recognize their outstanding academic achievements. Karina received the Graduate Academic Honors in Environmental Sciences award and Nikki received the Environmental Sciences Graduate Marshal award. The Ting Lab could not be more proud!

Another exciting year at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Illinois Chapter of the Wildlife Society (ILTWS) has come to an end. This year, Dr. Tih-Fen Ting attended with second -year master's students Karina Davis, Nikki Zuber, and Natalie Barber - each a recipient of the ILTWS Student Travel Grant ($150). With full financial support from Dr. Ting, undergraduate students Chad Wheeler and Tyler Mabray also joined the Ting Lab at the meeting in recognition of their outstanding commitment to the Chimney Swift and Common Nighthawk Watch, having contributed the highest number of fall surveys submitted by participating students statewide.

Students began the conference by attending an R statistics workshop, where they were introduced to foundational coding skills as well as statistical approaches for spatial analysis and generalized linear models. 

Each of the master's students also delivered an oral presentation on their thesis research. Karina presented her AI-based approach to investigating wetland vegetation; Nikki shared her productivity assessment and population viability analysis of osprey breeding populations; and Natalie discussed how climate change and prey availability influence osprey reproductive success. All three delivered excellent presentations, and the conference offered a valuable platform for them to connect with wildlife professionals from across Illinois.

Ting Lab members attended the annual Student Technology, Arts, & Research Symposium (STARS) at UIS. The STARS symposium provides the opportunity for students from a variety of academic disciplines to professionally showcase their work and interact with other scholars from UIS and the surrounding community. Master's students Natalie Barber, Karina Davis, and Nikki Zuber did an excellent job presenting oral presentations on each of their respective master's theses.

Celebrating Women's History Month, the Ting Lab was proud to host a table at this year's Women in STEM Fair at the Illinois State Museum. Families had the opportunity to learn about beavers and other mammals that call wetlands home through trail camera photos and prehistoric and modern-day skulls, as well as decorate beaver hats!

Click the link below to check out this UIS News article discussing exciting research being conducted on osprey by the Ting Lab!

The Ting Lab wraps up another successful field season! Twelve osprey chicks from Massachusetts were brought to our two Illinois hack sites. Master's student Natalie Barber and research technician Ariana Paunovic cared for six osprey chicks at Banner Marsh while master's student Karina Davis and research technician Sophie Sass cared for six chicks at Lake Shelbyville. Through satellite tracking the lab was able to track one of the females all the way to Colombia where she ended her first fall migration. Meanwhile master's student Nikki Zuber finished her osprey nest survey throughout the state of Illinois.

​Check out some photos from our osprey filled summer:

Master's student Karina Davis designed a new poster for the Ting Lab. Check out her incredible artwork depicting the various research subjects studied in the Ting Lab concerning conservation ecology!

Click the link below to check ​out this article where Dr. Ting was interviewed by a reporter from WTTW News Chicago (PBS) regarding a proposed rule change to the federal Endangered Species Act. The proposed rule change would alter the interpretation of the word harm to no longer include habitat modification. Additionally, the article highlights the current research the Ting Lab is conducting to monitor osprey, a state threatened species.

Members of the Ting Lab defended their proposals on a beautiful day at the UIS Lake Springfield Field Station. Congratulations to master’s students Natalie Barber, Nikki Zuber, and Karina Davis for passing the defense! We look forward to hearing about the exciting findings of each of your respective research projects in the months to come.