James Neugebauer

Ocelot Conservation

Jim Neugebauer is pursuing a Ph.D. in Wildlife Science at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University – Kingsville. He is co-advised by Dr. Michael Tewes at CKWRI and Dr. William J. Murphy in the Mammalian Comparative Genomics Laboratory within the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. His research will include studying landscape impacts on the population structure of bobcats in the region, as well as genome-wide factors related to fitness and immunity in ocelot populations.

Jim graduated with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2020 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he used camera traps to determine bobcat presence in the Laurel Highlands. In 2022, he completed his M.S. in Environmental Science from Duquesne University, with a thesis focused on black bear genetic diversity for forensic investigations and determining population structure. This was in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Jim has worked for New Jersey Fish and Wildlife as an assistant biologist in their Office of Wildlife Health and Forensics and as a lab manager in the Janecka Genomics Laboratory.