Abe Borker

Dr. Abe Borker is currently the Program Director of the UCSC Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program.  His goals are combining the impacts of teaching, mentoring, and research to strengthen conservation efforts. His mentorship philosophy is one of accelerating future leaders, helping them build their identity as conservationists, and empower them to make the change they want to see in the world.  His research interests surround improving the design and evaluation of conservation interventions through monitoring and assessment.  Abe is an avid naturalist, lifelong birdwatcher, and now soundscape enthusiast.  His journey into eco-acoustic research began with a practical need to measure seabird populations on remote islands. This work opened his ears to the vast power and potential of eavesdropping on ecological heartbeats when paired with scalable, semi-automated analysis.  Thus nowadays he geeks out on data as much as listening and is excited by the intersection of modern technology and traditional natural history in many ways.