astronomy

Rae Wynn-Grant

Rae Wynn-Grant is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rae Wynn-Grant rather than just read about it. In short: Rae Wynn-Grant is an American ecologist, specializing in large carnivores. She is best known for her research on the human impact on the behavior of black bears in Montana.

Key takeaways

Rae Wynn-Grant belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rae Wynn-Grant to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rae Wynn-Grant from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rae Wynn-Grant is an American ecologist, specializing in large carnivores. She is best known for her research on the human impact on the behavior of black bears in Montana. Wynn-Grant is a fellow of the National Geographic Society, and an advocate for women and people of color in the sciences.

Early life and education Wynn-Grant was born in California. She says that, as a child, she spent time watching television programs about wildlife and conservation, which inspired her interest in ecology. Wynn-Grant received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory University and her M.S. in Environmental Studies from The Yale School of the Environment at Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University. She also completed a Conservation Science Research and Teaching Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History.

Career Wynn-Grant is an ecologist, storyteller, and science communicator. She is a current research fellow with National Geographic Society. She also serves as a visiting scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History and an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Wynn-Grant was a staff member at "Bren School of Environmental Science", was in management at "University of California at Santa Barbara" and she serves on the board at the "Golden Gate regional board of NatureBridge"

Research Wynn-Grant studies large carnivores with a focus on using statistical modeling to determine how human activity alters the spatial patterns of carnivore behavior and ecology. As a National Geographic Society fellow, she worked with the American Prairie to predict which human habitats will attract bears as part of the reserve's restoration efforts in northeast Montana. Wynn-Grant used camera traps, geographic information systems and other research methods to study the movements of bears to better understand their habitat preferences and risk of being struck by vehicles or euthanized by local authorities. In 2021 she co-wrote an article "Mapping and modeling human-black bear interactions in the Catskills region of New York using resource selection probability functions."

Other activities From April to July 2021, Wynn-Grant hosted Crash Course Zoology, a fourteen-episode series on YouTube which focuses on different aspects of animal biology. In 2021, she was a collaborator for the Reebok x National Geographic collection of family-friendly shoes, alongside photographer Matthieu Paley. She is the host and writer on the podcast series, Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant by PBS Nature, which was honored in 2022 by the Webby Awards for Best Limited Series.

Notable publications Rae Wynn-Grant, Joshua R. Ginsberg, Carl W. Lackey, Eleanor J. Sterling, Jon P. Beckmann, Risky business: Modeling mortality risk near the urban-wildland interface for a large carnivore, Global Ecology and Conservation, Volume 16, 2018, e00443, ISSN 2351-9894, [1]. Wynn-Grant, Rae Jackson (2015). Using Anthropogenic Parameters at Multiple Scales to Inform Conservation and Management of a Large Carnivore (Thesis). Columbia University. doi:10.7916/d8d50mm0. Wynn-Grant, R. 2019. On reporting scientific and racial history. Science. 20 Sep 2019: Vol. 365, Issue 6459, pp. 1256-1257 DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2459 Peth, Darcy. Hoyle, Jennifer. Alcott, Emily. Siegal, Jessica. Kamal, Shristi. Wynn-Grant, Rae. (2015) The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: A Rapid Appraisal and Recommendations. In: Clark S., Hohl A., Picard C., Thomas E. (eds) Large-Scale Conservation in the Common Interest. Springer Series on Environmental Management. Springer, Cham. [2]

Advocacy efforts Wynn-Grant, who is African-American, is an advocate for women and people of color in the sciences. In 2019, the American Association for the Advancement of Science named her one of 100 IF/THEN Ambassadors, a program designed to highlight women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields to create high-profile role models for middle school girls. Wynn-Grant also serves as Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Officer on the Board of Governors for the Society for Conservation Biology. Wynn-Grant is committed to raising awareness of racism and equity in the sciences. In September 2019, she wrote a response to Sam Kean's feature, "Science's debt to the slave trade," in Science. Wynn-Grant criticized Kean's article for centering the motivations and work of white scientists in discussing the slave trade while including little on how Black people experienced the violence of slavery and how its legacy has influenced the participation of Black people in the sciences today. Wynn-Grant also serves on the board of directors for The Explorer's Club.

References

External links CrashCourse Zoology on YouTube Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant official site Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant podcast

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rae Wynn-Grant

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rae Wynn-Grant claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rae Wynn-Grant before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rae Wynn-Grant ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rae Wynn-Grant

In research: Rae Wynn-Grant appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rae Wynn-Grant in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rae Wynn-Grant is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1985 births, 20th-century African-American people, 20th-century African-American women, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rae Wynn-Grant outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rae Wynn-Grant in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rae Wynn-Grant means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rae Wynn-Grant out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rae Wynn-Grant in simple terms?

Rae Wynn-Grant is an American ecologist, specializing in large carnivores. She is best known for her research on the human impact on the behavior of black bears in Montana.

Why does Rae Wynn-Grant matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rae Wynn-Grant?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rae Wynn-Grant.