Samantha Wisely selected as a top scientist in Kansas

February 18, 2011 -

This selection is part of the Science in Kansas: 150 Years and Counting project of the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative, which will help celebrate the Kansas Sesquicentennial. This project highlights scientists of accomplishment with the goal of inspiring young Kansans.

Her research uses both ecological and molecular tools to investigate how alteration of the environment affects biological processes at multiple scales. Wisely investigates how human-induced habitat degradation alters the connectivity of wild populations and epidemiological processes. She also focuses on how past habitat alterations, via climate change, have shaped the evolutionary history of species. Wisely maintains two laboratories, the Conservation Genetic and Molecular Ecology Lab and the Ancient DNA Lab.

Wisely joined the K-State faculty in 2004 and was promoted to associate professor in 2010.

The Ad Astra Kansas Initiative is an organization based in Hutchinson with the mission of promoting the accomplishments of Kansas in science, space and the cosmos.

More information on the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative’s Science in Kansas: 150 Years and Counting project, including an educational series of trading cards featuring each scientist selected, is available at http://www.adastra-ks.org/.