Ophelia Wang's leadership began in high school when she was the chair of the Biological Research Club. During this time she led teaching, science projects and field trip activities. In college, she led a botanical interpretive group to introduce plant ecology to the general public. She also led a number of field volunteers for her ecological thesis project.
In grad school she was a faculty leader and coordinated and guided conservation and community development projects for undergraduate students in Costa Rica. She led N.A. undergrad students to participate in conservation and community development projects. These projects were corroborated between international student volunteers national parks and local NGOs. In 2006 and 2008 Ophelia co-led undergrad students from Texas, Ecuadorian botanists and indigenous field guides to conduct her dissertation field work in Ecuadorian Amazon.
In grad school she was a faculty leader and coordinated and guided conservation and community development projects for undergraduate students in Costa Rica. She led N.A. undergrad students to participate in conservation and community development projects. These projects were corroborated between international student volunteers national parks and local NGOs. In 2006 and 2008 Ophelia co-led undergrad students from Texas, Ecuadorian botanists and indigenous field guides to conduct her dissertation field work in Ecuadorian Amazon.
From 2010 to 2012 Ophelia was one of the executive leaders to direct a large scale invasive plant species field sampling in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. This project integrated spatial models of non-native plant invasion, fire risk, and wildlife habitat to support conservation of military and adjacent lands in the arid Southwest. Additionally this project generated a new time series remote sensing approach for mapping fine fuels in Sonoran Desert ecosystems.
Starting in 2011 Ophelia led graduate and undergraduate students to conduct geospatial analysis for a project that characterizes and examines changes in land use, especially deforestation patterns resulting from direct and indirect changes in narco-trafficki
Ophelia has continued to enhance her knowledge and skills in leadership and management. In 2012 she took a graduate course in Conservation Management and Leadership at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. In 2013 she will be competing her Certificate of Professional Achievement in Nonprofit Management, at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Starting in 2013 Ophelia has actively participated in implementing the Northern Arizona University Asia Research and Education Program and an initiative of Indonesian environmental management and administration at Northern Arizona University.
Since 2012 Ophelia has led American and Taiwanese partners in conservation-related enterprises in designing and planning for establishing the Trans-Pacific Conservation Leadership Initiation Practicum based on the core elements of conservation entrepreneurship. As related to this effort in the summer of 2013 will be actively networking with environmental agencies in Indonesia and Burma.
