Wilson Sherman

Wilson is working to understand how people and wildlife learn to coexist in shared landscapes. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, he draws on tools and theoretical approaches from ecology and the social sciences—primarily sociocultural anthropology and conservation psychology—to study American black bears in California neighborhoods. He collaborates with community members, wildlife managers, and non-profit organizations to understand how interactions between people and bears are shaped by social and ecological forces.

Prior to joining IoES, Wilson worked with a range of wildlife conservation organizations across the United States, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Namibia. Most recently, he conducted social science and animal welfare research as a program manager for the Conservation Society of California, Oakland Zoo. He holds a B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies and a B.A. in Anthropology, both from the University of California, Berkeley.