Joel W. Snodgrass named head of Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Joel W. Snodgrass has been named head of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.
Snodgrass most recently served as professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University. He received his bachelor's degree in biology from Guilford College, his master's degree in zoology from the University of Central Florida, and his doctorate in ecology from the University of Georgia.
“We welcome Dr. Snodgrass to the department, the college, and Virginia Tech,” said Paul Winistorfer, dean of the college. “The department, which is internationally known, is one of the top departments on campus in research activity. Dr. Snodgrass’ prior leadership experience will help us tremendously as we aspire to greater goals and outcomes from our important work in fish and wildlife conservation.”
Snodgrass’ current research focuses on fish and wildlife conservation issues in urban settings with a particular focus on streams and wetlands. He explores wildlife habitats in storm water ponds, the influence of watershed urbanization on fishes and amphibians, and aquatic toxicology of urban waters.
Virginia Tech’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation is widely recognized as one of the premier programs in North America that address fisheries and wildlife concerns on a national and global scale.
“I am very much looking forward to working with a group of students, faculty, and staff who are impacting the state and world with their work,” Snodgrass said. “I am privileged to be joining such an active and successful department.”
Snodgrass spent 15 years on the faculty at Towson University. He previously served as a postdoctoral research scientist at Rutgers University, a lecturer at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, and a U.S. Department of Energy Graduate Fellow at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.
Written by Nicholas Allen of Hanover, Virginia, a junior majoring in English in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
