معرفی
Dana Infante serves as Professor and Chair in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, concurrently holding leadership positions as Interim Director of the Institute of Water Research and Assistant Director of AgBioResearch. Her interdisciplinary work bridges landscape ecology, aquatic conservation, and fisheries management through examination of geology, land use, and climate impacts on fluvial systems.
Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Resource Ecology and Management (2005), M.S. in Resource Ecology and Management (2001), and B.S. in Scientific Writing (1994), all from the University of Michigan. This foundation supports her expertise in hydrological processes and ecosystem-scale management approaches.
Infante's research focuses on landscape-scale stressors affecting aquatic ecosystems, with particular emphasis on river catchment hydrology, stream geomorphology, and sustainable management frameworks. She develops innovative methodologies for ecological assessment across spatial scales from local to national, integrating theoretical ecology with practical conservation applications to address climate change impacts and habitat fragmentation.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals strong emphasis on climate vulnerability assessment, cross-continental conservation frameworks, and advanced modeling techniques including boosted regression trees for species distribution. Her work consistently addresses the intersection of hydrology, landscape connectivity, and fisheries management with increasing focus on tropical systems and large-scale habitat fragmentation.
No scientific awards are explicitly documented in the provided materials.
She actively mentors graduate students including current doctoral candidates Emily Dean (studying stream fragmentation impacts on migratory fish) and Kyle Brumm, while securing substantial research funding from agencies including USGS, NOAA, and USFWS. Her grant portfolio demonstrates sustained commitment to national aquatic habitat assessment programs, climate vulnerability studies, and decision support tools like FishVis and NorEast for regional conservation planning.
Infante leads a comprehensive research laboratory with GIS scientists, hydrologists, and data specialists, coordinating large-scale projects including the Aquatic GAP Analysis Program and Mississippi River Basin habitat assessments. Her team develops critical national datasets on fish distributions, dam metrics, and anthropogenic disturbances that inform conservation policy across North America.
