Hello friend! My name is Sandy Slovikosky, and I am currently a second year biology PhD student at the University of Oxford, advised by Dr. Robert Montgomery. Previously I completed by MS degree at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and my BS at the University of Arizona, both in wildlife management. I am also a certified Associate Wildlife Biologist with The Wildlife Society. It has been my passion from the time I was little to work with animals, and as I grew up I gradually came to learn about the threats numerous species face around the world. Thus my love of wildlife conservation was born. Moreover, I am driven to study nature because of my worldview as a Christian and love for God’s world. Big cats fascinate me in particular, though having grown up in the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona, I additionally have a strong appreciation for other wild cat species, canids, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and just about anything else you could name! Some of my other interests and hobbies include sharing about Jesus and serving within the church, reading (I LOVE fantasy), swimming, playing tennis and the piano, and hanging out with family and friends. Traveling to other countries and learning new languages are also two favorites of mine, given that I was born in Munich, Bavaria, have both the German and American citizenships, and would like to connect with more people around the globe by breaking down the language barrier!
When it comes to wildlife conservation, I am especially interested in fieldwork and research. Thus, I intend to post on this blog any work that I am currently doing and have done. During high school most of my research revolved around using motion-activated trail cameras and then conducting an analysis on the images/videos therefrom using software from the University of Arizona. During my undergraduate years I learned other skills as well, including radio telemetry, small mammal trapping and handling, scientific writing, and identification of various plant and animal species. In graduate school, I learned further techniques in advanced statistics, geographic information systems, data modeling and management, and coding in R and Google Earth Engine as well as a variety of soft skills. Additionally, I will be posting any experience that I’ve had in the field of natural resources through volunteering, internships, employment, and classes I’ve taken.
My graduate research interests center on large predator ecology and conservation. My Master’s thesis had two components. First, I used data from published studies to assess how the magnitude of livestock depredation by carnivores (ex. number of cattle killed) varies depending on the spatiotemporal scale at which the data are collected. Second, I used published data on leopard density estimates to build a model predicting how many leopards could potentially exist in the world. For my PhD dissertation, I am studying the non-lethal impacts of wire snaring on African lions in Uganda.
Check out my LinkedIn and ResearchGate profiles too. My professional memberships include The Wildlife Society, the American Society of Mammalogists, and the Wild Felid Research and Management Association.
P.S. My parents have their own website as well: www.slovikosky.com. It mostly contains photos on gardening and wildlife, as well as some music and songs that my mother wrote herself. If you could check it out too I (and they) would much appreciate it! Moreover, special thanks to my mother for providing many photos on my site, and to my brother and father for helping me create this blog. I couldn’t have done it without you three!