1. People & Departments
  2. Washington College
  3. Angela Chuang

Angela Chuang

Faculty
Department of Environmental Science & Studies
  • Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science and Studies

Angela Chuang

Campus Service

2025 - current Director for American Arachnological Society

2019 - current Associate Editor for Biological Invasions

I am interested in how human activities, such as the spread of invasive species, urbanization, and agricultural activities, impact invertebrates like insects and spiders. I am also intrigued by how we portray non-charismatic animals in media, exacerbating phobias and creating misinformation.

Education

  • Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 2019
  • B.Sc., Molecular Environmental Biology, University of California Berkeley, 2012

 

Academic Expertise

  • Invasion Biology
  • Arachnology, Spider Biology
  • Urban Ecology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Entomology
  • Zoology

 

Additional Information

Postdoctoral fellow, 2024-2025, Clemson University

Postdoctoral associate, 2020-2024, University of Florida

Lecturer, 2019-2020, University of Tennessee

Chuang, A., Kadyampakeni, D., Liesenfelt, T., Vincent, C., Dewdney, M., & Diepenbrock, L. (2024). Comparison of tools to support healthy young citrus plantings in a region with endemic huanglongbing, CLas, and Asian Citrus Psyllid (Diaphorina citri). Crop Protection, 185, 106871. 

Chuang, A., Deitsch, J. F., Nelsen, D. R., Sitvarin, M. I., & Coyle, D. R. (2023). The Jorō spider (Trichonephila clavata) in the southeastern US: an opportunity for research and a call for reasonable journalism. Biological Invasions, 25(1), 17-26. 

Mammola, S., Malumbres-Olarte, J., Arabesky, V., Barrales-Alcalá, D. A., Barrion-Dupo, A. L., Benamú, M. A., ... Chuang, A. & Scott, C. (2022). The global spread of misinformation on spiders. Current Biology, 32(16), R871-R873. 

Chuang, A., & Riechert, S. E. (2021). Personality shifts are inconsistent across two rapid range expansions of a non-native spider. Animal Behaviour, 173, 67-79. 

Chuang, A., & Peterson, C. R. (2016). Expanding population edges: theories, traits, and trade‐offs. Global change biology, 22(2), 494-512. 

2024 Herbert Levi Memorial Award, American Arachnological Society

2016 Exploration Fund, The Explorers Club

2015 Young Explorers Grant, National Geographic Society

2015 The Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, American Philosophical Society

2013-2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship