Bradley F. Blackwell, PhD, serves as Field Station and Project Leader for the USDA/APHIS Wildlife Services (WS), National Wildlife Research Center, Ohio Field Station (OFS). Brad and staff at the OFS focus their research on mitigating wildlife collisions (strikes) with aircraft. Brad manages funding and directs research under the research component of an Interagency Agreement between WS and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a collaborative relationship that’s been in place since 1990. As an example, since 1999 Brad and colleagues with the OFS and in academia have examined aspects of avian detection of and response to aircraft approach. This work builds upon an understanding of the visual capabilities of frequently struck bird species, and with the goal of providing the FAA and industry with data to inform new aircraft lighting designs that will aid in reducing bird strikes. Brad has worked as a Research Wildlife Biologist at the OFS since 1997 and has led applied ecological research in areas of wildlife population demographics, land cover/resource use, and sensory ecology and behavior; he assumed leadership of the OFS in September.
