Wendee Holtcamp, M.S., Ph.D. candidate
Writer, Photographer, Scientist, Educator, Bohemian, Mover-n-Shaker

Holtcamp can tromp around swamps in rubber waders catching frogs, snakes or gators by day, and dress up to lead a seminar or teach a course at night. She likens herself to the bohemians of the early 20th century, intellectuals who loved art, had high ambitions, and who could live in squalor or luxury. Indeed, she grew up nicknamed ‘urchin’ living in a down-home Oregon log cabin with no running water, an outhouse, and wood stoves for cooking. Later she moved around the country with her mother and stepdad in suburbia, and the two opposing lifestyles gave her a unique perspective.

Holtcamp has a vivid writing style borne of her grassroots childhood and her inherent love of wild places and wild things. She brings over 10 years of writing experience to the table, with articles published in nationally acclaimed magazines and websites including National Wildlife, Sierra, and Audubon Magazines, Discovery Channel Online, AnimalPlanet.com and NPRs All Things Considered. She regularly contributes to Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine and has been featured in their special Annual Water Issue for the past 2 years alongside some of Texas’ best writers. Another career highlight was when Discovery Channel sent her to Costa Rica to cover leatherback turtle research for a live expedition published in real-time on the web in 1999.

Holtcamp founded San Jacinto Conservation Coalition in 2000, a group dedicated to smart growth and habitat conservation. She planned, and implemented the highly successful River Bottom Festival at Lake Houston State Park, held in conjunction with the East Fork/West Fork Canoe Challenge. SJCC and Legacy Land Trust nominated the San Jacinto as an American Rivers "Most Endangered River" for 2006.

Scientific Expertise
Holtcamp earned a B.S. Magna Cum Laude and M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from Texas A&M. Her Master’s research on the impacts of fire ants on native fauna was published in the journal Ecology. In 2001 she begun work toward her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Rice University and was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Holtcamp advanced to Ph.D. candidacy in November 2004, and received her M.A. in Evolutionary Biology in 2005. Holtcamp has years of field work experience – she spent months trapping small mammals in the rainforests of Australia, the deserts of Nevada, and the post oak savannah of Texas. She also has experience with radio telemetry, pitfall trapping of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, and vegetation sampling.

Education and Teaching Expertise
Holtcamp is a charismatic teacher who loves spreading enthusiasm and knowledge about science, nature, and writing. Holtcamp taught Animal Ecology lab at Texas A&M in 1993, showing students how to conduct a semester-long field research experiment, which meant catching small mammals (a nice name for rats) in the wee morning hours. She showed students how to plan the experiment, conduct the field work, and analyze the data using computer models and statistics. After she moved to Houston she taught biology at Kingwood College for 4 years including lecture, lab and internet courses. She developed the web content for the NHMCCD Biology Online Course, and developed field excursions for her students above and beyond what the college required. She led students on a semester-long water quality monitoring study for two semesters, took students kayaking, and led them on natural-history hikes in the Big Thicket National Preserve. After participating in a 2-year Information Technology in Science (ITS) program at Texas A&M’s Center for Teaching and Learning from 2000-2001, she developed an interactive Evolution in Action grizzly bear animal behavior module, designed to teach students how to think critically while learning about a core curriculum – evolution.

Holtcamp moderates several listservs (American Institute of Biological Sciences evolution-education listserv for Texas; Society of Environmental Journalists Freelance listserv; and a support group listserv for women going through separation and divorce).

Holtcamp has a passion for bringing clarity and reason into science/faith issues. She co-organized and served on a panel for the "Evolution: What it is, and What it isn’t” symposium at Montgomery College. She was invited on the Houston PBS TV show “The Connection” to discuss the Texas textbook controversy. She is currently authoring a book with a working title: The Fish Wars: Truth, Propaganda, and Why Intelligent Design is a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

... Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Wendee's Humorous Bio]