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Smith, who has taught at UW-Eau Claire since 2022, is one of eight people being welcomed as fellows by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) this year. According to the ABS website, fellows are “members of the Society who have made distinguished research contributions to the field of animal behavior. They are nominated by their peers and chosen by the elected officers on the basis of their research and service accomplishments.”

Smith is the only one of the eight elected from an undergraduate institution.

“It’s very unusual to have someone at a primarily undergraduate institution to be elected and to be honored with the status of being a fellow,” Smith says. “It’s something that typically involves people at universities that have Ph.D. candidates. So it’s really a big deal, and it’s very exciting to be honored in this way.”

Squirrel research leads to national recognition

Smith has received national recognition for her research into California ground squirrels. The research centers around squirrels in the Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, near San Francisco, California. Smith and fellow researchers discovered ground squirrels there were carnivores, often hunting, killing and eating voles, small rodents that inhabit that area.

Smith began that research when teaching in California nearly 15 years ago and continued it when she came to UW-Eau Claire. She often involves students in her research in California, and she credits those students for the recognition she is receiving from the Animal Behavior Society.

“It’s really a testament to the undergraduates we have here,” Smith says. “The work they’re doing is comparable in many ways to what graduate students might do at other institutions. Our undergrads get these opportunities here so that’s a big deal.”

Research and mentoring

This is the second major recognition for Smith from the ABS. In 2017, while teaching at Mills College in California, she was awarded the Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award.

“There are very few individuals that have been awarded the fellow status from the Animal Behavior Society and the teaching award,” Smith says. “So, I’m really excited to be recognized for both. I think it’s a testament of what we do at UW-Eau Claire, where we really focus on undergraduates, both in the classroom through teaching and through the research and the opportunities that they get.”

Smith has always been focused on animal research. As an undergraduate and later while working on her doctorate, she spent a year in Kenya studying hyenas. She also spent time doing marine explorations on the Great Barrier Reef while in Australia, and traveled to Hawaii, where she studied whales and manatees.

That research and her current work with undergraduate students led to her being nominated and accepted as a fellow in the Animal Behavior Society. Smith says the award is both exciting and surprising.

“It’s a bit surprising to be honored in this way, because I see this award as something that usually folks a little more senior and later in their career development may be honored with,” Smith says. “It really is quite, I don’t know if humbling is the correct word, but sort of breathtaking.”

Blugolds double up on awards

Smith won’t be the only Blugold recognized by the Animal Behavior Society during its annual gathering in Cincinnati. One of Smith’s former students, and a recent Goldwater Scholar, is receiving an award in part for her research work with Smith on the discovery of California ground squirrels hunting voles.

“Jada Wahl is an undergraduate in my lab,” Smith says. “She’s a graduating senior and I nominated her for the Charles H. Turner Award. It’s an award that supports students from often minoritized backgrounds in animal behavior. It’s a big deal. So, you’re kind of passing your passion down to the next generation.”

In appreciation for passing that passion down to the next generation, Wahl, who just graduated but will continue to do research with Smith this summer, became instrumental in nominating Smith for the Emerging Mentor Award from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. ORSP announced Smith as the recipient of the Emerging Mentor in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award this spring.

“She worked with other students in the lab, past and current, to get them to all write statements in support of me receiving the award,” Smith says. “So I’m really grateful for her paying it forward.”

The passion that led to Smith being named a fellow, and the passion for passing things down to the next generation is what makes Smith’s job as an instructor and researcher special.

“I feel really happy. That’s how mentoring is. It gives me pride.”