Animal Planet :: Spy on the Wild :: Scientist Interviews

July 24, 2008

Scientist Interviews

Jacalyn Giacalone Willis

Jacalyn Giacalone Willis is a scientist, educator, conservationist and educational program designer. She holds a doctorate in Biology from the City University of New York, where she did her dissertation on the behavioral ecology of flying squirrels.

Her field research in tropical ecology in Panama began in 1978 in association with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and has proven a lasting passion. Using her exotic field research as a "hook," she has introduced thousands of students to the ecology of tropical mammals. She has also led six expedition-style field courses for kindergarten-through-twelfth grade teachers to remote locations including the Galapagos, Australia, and the Amazon. She interprets her field research experiences for young students through her Web site, The Rainforest Connection, and through video-conferencing from her research site in Panama. Archives of the video discussions with classes are also accessible on the Rainforest Connection Web site.

Dr. Willis has 15 years experience in designing university-school collaborations that bring the professional experiences of mathematicians and scientists to kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and their students. Nationally recognized for her contributions to education, Dr. Willis is a recipient of the Scholastic Magazine "Hometown Hero for the Environment" award. She also won the 2002 Essex County, N.J., Board of Freeholders commendation for her work in conservation education.

Gregory Willis

Greg likes to say that he got his Ph.D. the easy way: he married her.

Greg and Jackie were married in 1980 and spent their honeymoon on Barro Colorado Island. This was Greg's first visit to the tropics and to a rainforest. Since then, he has traveled and worked with Jackie for part of every year in Panama or Costa Rica. He has collaborated with her on ecological projects and has developed expertise in techniques of observation of wildlife, based on an early interest in fly fishing and hunting.

Greg was born and grew up in New Jersey, where he still makes his home. When he is not fishing or on an ecological trip, he is a businessman in New Jersey, contracting for house painting and home refurbishment. As an ecological worker, he has trapped and marked animals for release, radio-collared squirrels for tracking, monitored fruit crops, maintained camera traps, and performed trail census projects. On Barro Colorado Island, in 1983, he distinguished himself by being the first person to see a jaguar on the island since at least the 1930s. He is still the only person who has seen a jaguar on Barro Colorado Island in recent years.

While his favorite rainforest animal is the vested anteater, his all-time favorite creatures are trout. He has fly-fished for salmon and trout in Alaska, New Zealand, Australia and wherever there are trout in the United States. His life goals include fishing the rivers of Argentina and Scotland. He would like to live in Alaska someday, where he would rather be fly-fishing than almost anything else. Greg says, "So many trout, so little time."

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Picture(s): Courtesy of Katrina Macht (2) |

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