Marcelo Jorge

Marcelo Jorge was Born in São Paulo, Brazil, and moved to the United States at an early age. He lived all over the eastern United States and spent his formative years in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

He attended Miami University (Ohio) in which he earned his Bachelors of Science in Zoology with a Neuroscience minor and a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology as well as conducted independent undergraduate research on house cricket (Acheta domesticus) social dominance behavior as a factor influencing neurogenesis. He then worked for three years at a variety of American Zoological Association-accredited institutions as an animal keeper and trainer. He returned to academia and earned his Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from Virginia Tech. His thesis investigated the impact of fire on the wildlife (i.e. mammals and bird) communities of a pyric landscape in North Florida using passive sampling techniques. 

After his Masters, he has collaborated across a wide range of projects including: bat response to fire in North Florida, Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) resource selection in the Amazon river, Brazilian coastal fisheries harvest estimation, and Southwestern United States bat activity prior to white-nose syndrome. Marcelo’s research interests include predator-prey interactions, community ecology and applied science to benefit land managers.

His PhD project will focus on understanding how chronic wasting disease affects Arkansas deer populations and behaviors using both passive and active sampling techniques under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Chandler, Dr. Gino D’Angelo, and Dr. Michael Chamberlain. His work aims to provide recommendations to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as well as other CWD-positive states on the monitoring and managing a deer herd with the disease.

In his spare time, Marcelo enjoys board games, taking his dog, Sequoia, into the forest, and as a new hunter, engaging in everything from squirrel to deer hunting and hopes to start trapping as well.