David Drake is a Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  His research and extension programs primarily focus on wildlife and wildlife damage management in human-dominated landscapes.  David also teaches an undergraduate course on wildlife damage management.  David received his Ph.D in Forestry from North Carolina State University, a M.S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University, and a B.A degree in Biology from Macalester College. 

I am a PhD student working with Dr. Tim Van Deelen and Dr. David Drake on the UW Urban Canid Project. I first started working with coyotes during my undergraduate at the University of California – Berkeley, where I completed an independent senior thesis looking at how habitat use of urban coyotes was affected by habitat characteristics and recreation.  After completing my undergraduate education, I moved to Wisconsin to complete a MS degree at UW – Madison with Dr. Tim Van Deelen. My current research focuses on urban canids and their interactions with each other, their environment, and with humans. 

I am a PhD student investigating the relationships between different management strategies, white-tailed deer populations, and vegetative communities in the northeastern US. I recently completed my MS at Auburn University, where I studied the effects of abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, barometric pressure, moon phase) on deer activity in South Carolina. Prior to attending graduate school, I earned his BS in Biology and Natural Resources from Northland College in Ashland, WI. As a Wisconsin native, I am excited to return to my home state for my PhD.