Meet our Team!

The Indy Wildlife Watch is one of many cities across the United States that partners with the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN). UWIN, coordinated by the Lincoln Park Zoo's Urban Wildlife Institute, is a group of ecologist and educators that aim to understand the differences in animal behavior across regions, in order to create cities that help maintain biodiversity.

Dr. Julia Angstmann

Dr. Angstmann is a research ecologist specializing in plant physiological ecology and ecosystem ecology seeking to connect human impacts of land alteration, pollution, and manmade infrastructure on ecosystem function, plant physiological response, and species diversity. She has a PhD in Ecology with a Minor in Statistics from the University of Wyoming and completed a postdoc at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. In South Africa, she transitioned into urban ecology while studying the impacts of air pollution and subsequent deposition of pollutants on plant diversity in the urban ecosystem. After 3-years at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) as a Proposal Writer and Editor, she began my role as the Director of the Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability at Butler University. In this role, she is responsible for the oversight of the CUES programs such as the CUE Farm and student internships as well as assisting faculty and community partners with research, education, and community outreach activities that focus on urban ecology and sustainability. She currently serves on the Ecology Committee of Reconnecting to Our Waterways and on the Advisory Team for the Purdue Extension Farm Incubator project in Indianapolis.

Dr. Carmen Salsbury

Carmen Salsbury is a Professor of Biological Sciences with expertise in the areas of behavioral and physiological ecology. Mammals have served as Dr. Salsbury's primary study subjects over the years and she has a specific interest in the ecology of squirrels, both tree and ground-dwelling species. Dr. Salsbury has worked on the reproductive behavior and physiology of yellow-bellied marmots and on patterns of hibernation in woodchucks. Most recently, she has become more interested in urban ecological questions. Dr. Salsbury has conducted studies in collaboration with students and Dr. Travis Ryan addressing patterns of distribution and abundance of tree squirrels within the urban/suburban landscape.

Dr. Travis Ryan

Travis Ryan is a Professor of Biological Sciences with expertise in urban ecology and conservation biology, and he is one of the founding faculty of the Center for Urban Ecology at Butler University. Dr. Ryan's past research focused on the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, evolutionary ecology of amphibians and the evolution of life histories, and the ecology of turtle assemblages and the spatial ecology of turtles within urban aquatic habitats.

Student Interns

In addition to the people mentioned above, the Indy Wildlife Watch wants to recognize the numerous student interns from Butler University that help in field data collection, photo tagging, vegetation structure analysis, landscape-scale covariate analysis, educational outreach, Zooniverse site development, and more!