Dr. Phaedra Budy is the Unit Leader of the U.S. Geological Society, Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit, a Professor of fisheries management and aquatic ecology in the Department of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University (USU) and a faculty member of The Ecology Center at USU. She holds a B.S. in Limnology from the University of California, Davis and a PhD in Aquatic Ecology from Utah State University. She does research that fits into an overall framework of evaluating the factors that structure and limit fish populations and communities in both lentic and lotic systems, and also works broadly in the conservation biology, invasion ecology, and food web dynamics of aquatic systems. Her current research covers a wide geographical range including almost all of Utah (from the south of the state up to high elevation points in the Bear River drainage), Nevada, New Mexico, and northern, arctic Alaska and includes many species of salmonids, imperiled native desert fishes (e.g., the "three species"), and numerous warm water lentic fishes. She also works on experimental and adaptive stream restoration and large river management.