The Koger Lab specializes in designing and using novel imaging and image processing techniques to study natural systems. The lab uses a combination of drone, satellite, and ground-based imagery paired with deep learning detection and tracking algorithms to investigate how animals’ behaviors are influenced by their social and physical environments. The labs current resaerch program is focused on understanding collective navigation and predator-prey dynamics in Pacic salmon ecosystems around Bristol Bay, Alaska and rangeland dyamics in the mountain west.
Reach out to Ben Koger at bkoger@uwyo.edu for general inquiries about joining the lab. Please see below for current active job listings.
Ph.D. student While there is currently no offical posting, I will soon be actively recruiting a Ph.D. student. Please get in contact if you might be interested in hearing more about potential projects or would like to discuss ideas of your own.
Postdoc There is currently an open postdoc position to join the lab’s work on Pacific salmon.
Ben Koger is an assistant professor in the School of Computing and the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. His work focuses on creating systems that allow for the efficient and automated study of ecological systems. Specifically, combining imaging and computer vision to study the relationship between individuals and their social and physical landscapes. His current research focus is pacific salmon migration and behavior in Alaska and human wildlife interaction in Wyoming.
Current Projects Pacific salmon ecology This project is centered on Pacific salmon ecosystems in the Bristol Bay watershed of Alaska and is done in close collaboration with Dr. Andrew Berdahl at University of Washington and Dr. Albert Kao at UMass Boston. We use a combination of imaging drones and time-lapse cameras to record salmon during the final stages of their migration as well as when they are nesting and confronting hunting brown bears.
Spring 2024 ZOO5890-8: Foundations in Biological Programming Course description: Across biological disciplines software is becoming an ubiquitous part of data generation and analysis pipelines. Especially as projects and data become more complex, the ability to conceptualize and write code that is correct, efficient, and maintainable is vital. Luckily, good software development, whether using R, python, or any other programming language, relies on only a few basic principles. The goal of this class is teaching those basic principles.