RRC Staff and Expertise

Current Raptor Research Center Staff:

Jim Belthoff, PhD

RRC Interim Director
(208) 426-4033
jbeltho@boisestate.edu

Jim Belthoff holding a Barn Owl outside a farm — *Jim Belthoff describing his Barn Owl research, Canyon County, Idaho (John Kelly photo)*

Jim Belthoff has served as Interim Director for the RRC from 2018 to the present. Jim has been a professor at Boise State in the Department of Biological Sciences since 1993 and has enjoyed mentoring numerous graduate and undergraduate students along the way. Much of Jim’s research focuses on the biology, behavior, and ecology of owls and other raptors. He is interested in dispersal, migration, mating systems, territoriality, ectoparasites and disease ecology, and how habitat conversion to agriculture affects birds of prey. Jim has current projects related to the population biology, behavioral ecology, ectoparasites, and conservation of burrowing owls; roadway mortality and ecology of barn owls; ecotoxicology in ferruginous hawks; and the behavioral ecology of flammulated owls and western screech-owls.

Stacey Smith

RRC Research Center Administrator
(208) 426-3329
staceysmith870@boisestate.edu

Stacey Smith came to the RRC in 2020 with seven years of administrative experience in both the private and public sectors and B.S. degrees in Environmental Biology and Zoo Science. Her background includes field experience with threatened and endangered bird and mammal species that facilitates her understanding of staff and student needs and her responsiveness to research priorities. Stacey is the only office staff for the RRC and works on the center’s business administration, accounting and compliance, human resource management, website development, and planning/coordination for events and travel. She especially enjoys encouraging and supporting students’ success in Boise State programs.