Speaker: Dr. Angela Chuang, Postdoctoral Fellow @ Clemson University
Title: “Zigzagging through academia: a tale of spiders, citrus, and serendipity”
Abstract: Dr. Angela Chuang received her B.S. Molecular Environmental Biology from UC Berkeley and her Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, where she studied spider behavior and invasion biology. She then worked as a postdoc for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and now for Clemson University, during which time she evaluated methods for combatting a major agricultural pest in citrus groves. Dr. Chuang also studies the ecology and human perceptions of invasive Joro spiders—a non-native species with which all of us Georgians are now very familiar! In addition to her work in these fields of ecology, Dr. Chuang is a board game enthusiast and combines her passions by reviewing games with science themes (e.g., this recent review of In the Footsteps of Darwin). In her talk, Dr. Chuang provides an overview of her research and an encouraging message for others whose career paths might take a non-linear course.

The Ecology, Evolution, Behavior, & Organismal Biology (EEBOB) seminar series focuses on biological topics at whole-organism and higher scales of organization. Guest speakers come from universities, governmental agencies, NGOs, zoos, museums, and other institutions. The EEBOB seminar is an opportunity to learn about career paths and research in the biology discipline, and for students to engage with professionals in a wide variety of biology careers.

This seminar series consists of a pre-recorded seminar, which will be posted to a playlist at the beginning of each week, and a live, virtual Q&A session with the speaker. All are welcome to attend! To be granted access to the live Q&A session, interested attendees can email Dr. Todd Pierson. The live Q&A session will be held each Thursday at 12:30 PM.