Kira McEntire PhD 

Kira is an associate professor of biology at Queens University of Charlotte and the Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Work. She earned her PhD from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, where she conducted research exploring the interface between physiology, behavior, and population ecology for salamanders in a complex landscape. She then pursued her love for teaching as visiting assistant professor of biology at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX for two years. She is passionate about using best teaching practices and game-based learning and broadly interested in behavioral ecology and conservation. She has does extensive Individual/Agent Based Modeling and is currently collaborating on a couple of different projects. Her current research with students is exploring the use of photo identification for multiple species of salamanders, ecology of tardigrades, and population dynamics of red-backed salamanders as part of SPARCnet. SPARCnet is a nationwide collaboration of people working with red-backed salamanders to get a broader perspective on their biology.