SREL hires DeVault as associate director
Travis L. DeVault, has joined the leadership team of the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. He will serve as associate director for research under Olin “Gene” Rhodes Jr., director of SREL. As associate director for research DeVault will be responsible for overseeing research support functions at SREL, including environmental health and safety, analytical services, research permitting and compliance and animal care.
He has over 13 years of experience working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio and in Syracuse, New York. In his most recent position, he served as supervisory research wildlife biologist and project leader.
His professional experience includes teaching at Purdue University and serving as adjunct faculty at Cornell University and Mississippi State University. He was a visiting graduate researcher at SREL from 2000 to 2003.
DeVault earned a bachelor of science degree and a master of arts degree in life sciences from Indiana State University and a doctoral degree in wildlife ecology from Purdue University. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
His research covers wildlife ecology, conservation and behavior with a focus on the causes and consequences of animal-vehicle collisions, and the development of tools and strategies to reduce these collisions. His research also investigates human-wildlife interactions, managing damage caused by wildlife and ornithology.
DeVault is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including receiving the USDA’s National Wildlife Research Center’s Researcher of the Year Award for 2017, three Outstanding Publication Awards and Airport Business magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40.”