Kristiina J. Hurme

I'm a vertebrate biologist and behavioral ecologist who has studied parental care, territoriality, male–male combat, vocal communication, mating, and courtship in frogs, birds, and fish throughout the Neotropics. In zoos, I designed enrichment for monkeys and frogs and used positive reinforcement to train monkeys and sea lions — skills I now use to study wild hummingbirds!

Today I'm an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington. Two themes run through everything I do: humanizing what it means to do science, and helping students fall in love with biodiversity and natural history. My goal is for every student to leave seeing themselves as the organisms they are — and as the scientists they can become.

I also study hummingbird feeding and flight, and co-run the Centro de Investigación Colibrí Gorriazul, a hummingbird research station in Fusagasugá, Colombia.

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