Principal Investigator
Wenjing Xu, Ph.D.
Wenjing is an incoming assistant professor (starting January 2026) at UMASS Amherst Department of Environmental Conservation. She is broadly interested in behavioral ecology, community ecology, and conservation science in social-ecological systems. From the western United States and East Africa to the Tibetan Plateau, she has worked in rangeland/grassland systems where humans share space with domestic and wild ungulates (hoofed mammals). She is originally from Hangzhou, China.
EDUCATION
Postdoc, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Germany
Postdoc, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management, University of California, Berkeley
MS, Geography, University of Georgia
BS, Natural Resources, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)
CONTACT
wenjingxu [at] umass.edu
Affiliated lab members
Ning Wang, PhD student
Ning is a PhD student at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Her main supervisor is Dr. Lingyun Xiao. Her research focuses on interactions between wild ungulates, particularly Tibetan gazelles, and livestock on the Tibetan Plateau, with an emphasis on conservation strategies and management. She is also broadly interested in ecosystem modeling. She is originally from Beijing, China.
EDUCATION
MSc, Complex System Modelling, King's College London
MRes, Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Imperial College London
BSc, Biological Science, University of Birmingham
BSc, Biological Science, Sun Yat-Sen University
CONTACT
Ning.Wang23 [at] student.xjtlu.edu.cn
Yi Lu, PhD student
Yi is a PhD student at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Health and Environmental Science, supervised by Dr. Lingyun Xiao. She is broadly interested in foraging ecology and nomadic pastoralism. Transitioning from molecular genetics to large-animal ecology, her academic journey now focuses on the foraging behavior of ungulates on the Tibetan Plateau, including Tibetan gazelle, kiang, and domestic livestock. She is originally from Haining, China.
EDUCATION
MSc, Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Imperial College London
BSc, Molecular Biology and Genetics, McMaster University
CONTACT
Yi.Lu2302 [at] student.xjtlu.edu.cn
Wei-Wei(浪味仙), Cat
Wei-Wei is a research associate. She is interested in milk carton cap, aluminum foil balls, and other trash-alike. To support the group’s research, she has traveled internationally including the US, Canada, Germany and France. For such achievement, she was awarded an EU pet passport. Unlike many other cats, she is particularly not interested in food. Her work has yet to be peer-reviewed but has been widely disseminated across living room floors. In her spare time, she loves watching pigeons and tasting pigeons feces.
EDUCATION
Pre-school, on the streets of Berkeley, California (although we doubt she learned anything useful).
CONTACT
Available only between 3–5 a.m. via meowing
