Wimberley Valley Chamber Luncheon

Sara Weaver received her B.Sc. in Biology in 2009 and her M.Sc. in Wildlife Ecology in 2012 from Texas State University. While completing her degrees, she conducted undergraduate research on Western Kingbirds in San Marcos, Texas, and her thesis research was focused on overwintering populations of Brazilian free-tailed bats in central Texas. From 2012 to 2017, she worked as an ecologist for a global environmental consulting firm, AECOM (formerly URS). In this position, she conducted wildlife habitat evaluations, avian and bat activity studies for wind energy facilities, wetland delineations, federally endangered species monitoring for the Houston toad and Golden-cheeked Warbler, impact assessments for a variety of development projects such as solar facilities, TxDOT roadways, as well as authored natural resources sections for Categorical Exclusions, Environmental Assessments, and Environmental Impact Statements.

In 2019, Sara received her Ph.D. in Aquatic Resources and Integrative Biology. Her dissertation research was focused on wind energy impacts on bats and impact reduction strategies, which received international attention and was published in Global Ecology and Conservation.

From 2016 to 2020, Sara served as full-time Biology faculty at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, teaching a variety of wildlife, ecology, and biology-related courses. She is now a Senior Ecologist and Project Manager at Bowman Consulting Group in San Marcos. There she works on similar projects to those with AECOM and continues her line of research on bat ecology and conservation. She remains adjunct faculty at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and Texas State University.