Professor
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences | Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
Hometown: Austin, TX
I received my B.A. in Biology and Kinesiology (2008) from Southwestern University, my Ph.D. (2014) from the University of Pittsburgh, and did my postdoc (2014-2015) at Purdue University. Prior to moving to UW-Madison, from 2015-2022, I was an assistant and associate professor at Binghamton University and served as the Director for the Center for Integrated Watershed Studies.
Research in the Hua lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to address two main goals: (1) To understand ecological interactions, evolutionary processes, and eco-evo feedbacks in human modified environments and (2) To evaluate the role of outreach and citizen science in shaping community perception and understanding of science.
Talks:
Pollutants, Parasites, and You: When does preserving biodiversity protect communities
Communities with higher biodiversity are expected to be less vulnerable to diseases compared to communities with lower biodiversity. However, increasing evidence indicates that this is not always the case. To address why, this talk will focus on (1) how common pollutants (e.g., road salt and pesticides) and human land use influence whether biodiversity protects or exacerbates disease and (2) how art outreach and citizen science initiatives can be used to understand human contributions to disease dynamics as well as improve public learning and perceptions of science.