I grew up in Livermore, CA near the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. With the lab nearby, our public school science teachers were exceptional. I got the biology bug in high school field biology when I learned that I could combine getting dirty with the wonderful subject that helped me to begin to make sense of the world around me. I've studied several the taxa (sea lions, bats, ground squirrels, finches, sunfish, and mice) and moved from west to east and finally to the south.  It’s honestly hard to imagine doing anything more challenging, more rewarding, and more fun.

My education, research, and teaching have taken me to some amazing places, including Alaska where I learned to kayak, Kenya where I climbed to the top of its highest mountain (Mt. Kenya), and Antarctica where I lived on the sea ice. When I’m not working, I enjoy martial arts, eating out, sharing a good beer with friends, and getting outdoors to hike, kayak, and camp.  I moved to AL in 2007, joining my husband Geoff Hill at Auburn University.

	Ph.D.	Biology, Boston University, 2001. Dissertation: Nutritional Limitations on Lactation and Postnatal Growth in the Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus.
	M.A.	Biology, Boston University, 1998
	B.A.	Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1993

Employment:

	2007-present.	Research Assistant Professor, Auburn University
	2002-2007.	Assistant Professor, Coastal Carolina University
	2000-2002.	Postdoctoral Research Associate, Fordham University
	1994-2000.	Teaching Fellow, Boston University

Publications:

• Hill,G.E., W.R. Hood and K. Huggins. Accepted Jan 2009. A multifactorial test of the effects of carotenoid access, food intake, and parasite load on production of ornamental feather and bill coloration in American Goldfinches. Journal of Experimental Biology 212:1225-1233.
  
• Hood, W.R, M.B.Voltura, and O.T. Oftedal.  2009. Methods of measuring milk composition and yield in small mammals. Pp. 000 in T.H. Kunz and S.Parsons (ed) Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats 
• Kunz, T.H., R.A.Adams and W.R. Hood. 2009. Methods for Assessing Size and Birth and Postnatal Growth and Development in Bats.  Pp. 000 in T.H.Kunz and S. Parsons  (ed) Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats.
• Kunz, T.H., W.R. Hood, and L. Nadolny. 2010. Lactation and postnatal growth. In: Bats in Captivity, Volume 2: Aspects of Rehabilitation (Barnard, S.M., ed.). Logos Press, Washington, D.C.
• Kunz, T.H., L. Nadolny, and W.R. Hood. 2010. Reproductive patterns and parental care: Megachiroptera. In: Bats in Captivity, Volume 2: Aspects of Rehabilitation (Barnard, S.M., ed.). Logos Press, Washington, D.C.
  
• Hood, W.R, O.T. Oftedal, T.H. Kunz. 2006.  Variation in body composition of female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) during lactation.  Journal of Comparative Physiology B 176: 807-819. [ click to view or print]
• Shawkey, M.D., G.E. Hill, K.J. McGraw, W.R. Hood, and K. Huggins. 2006. An experimental test of contributions and condition dependence of microstructure and carotenoids in yellow plumage coloration. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273:2985-2991. [  click to view or print]
• Frank, C.L., W.R. Hood, and M.C. Donnelly.  2004.  The role of a-linolenic acid (18:3) in mammalian torpor. Pp 71-80 in B. M. Barnes and H.V. Carey, eds.  Life in the Cold: Evolution, Mechanisms, Adaptation and Application.  Institute of Arctic Biology Press.  [ click to view or print]
• Hood, W.R., J. Bloss, and T.H. Kunz.  2002.  Intrinsic and extrinsic sources of variation in timing and synchrony of births and postnatal growth in the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Journal of Zoology 258:355-363. [ click to view or print]
• Bloss, J., T.E. Acree, J.M. Bloss, W.R. Hood and T.H. Kunz. 2002. Potential use of chemical cues for colony-mate recognition in big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus. Journal of Chemical Ecology 28:799-814. [ click to view or print]
• Hood, W.R., T.H. Kunz, O.T. Oftedal, S.J. Iverson, D. LeBlanc, and J. Seyjagat.  2001.  Interspecific and intraspecific variation in the proximate, mineral, and fatty acid composition of milk in Old-World fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae).Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 74:134-146. [ click to view or print]
• Kunz, T.H. and W.R. Hood.  2000.  Parental effort and postnatal growth in the Chiroptera.  Pp. 415-468 in P. Krutzsch and E. Crichton, eds. Reproductive Biology of Bats.  Academic Press, San Diego.
• Kunz, T.H., E. Bicer, W.R. Hood, M.J. Axtell, W.R. Harrington, B.A. Silvia, and E.P. Widmaier.  1999.  Plasma leptin decreases during lactation in insectivorous bats.  Journal of Comparative Physiology B 169:61-66. [ click to view or print]
• Hood, W. R., and K.A. Ono.  1997.  Variation in maternal attendance patterns and pup behavior in a declining population of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus).  Canadian Journal of Zoology 75:1241-1246. [ click to view or print]
• Byrnes, P. and W.R. Hood.  1994. First account of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) predation on a young California sea lion (Zalophus californianus).  Marine Mammal Science 10:381-383. [ click to view or print]

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