Rate My Professor William Hopkins

William Hopkins is a professor of fish and wildlife conservation in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, a position he has held since joining the faculty in 2005. He earned a B.S. from Mercer University in 1992, an M.S. from Auburn University in 1997, and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2001. Currently, he serves as Director of the Global Change Center, Associate Executive Director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, and holds adjunct professor appointments at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program. In December 2025, Hopkins was awarded the Thomas H. Jones Professorship by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, recognizing his outstanding contributions to teaching, mentoring, research, and outreach in fish and wildlife sciences.

Hopkins' research program centers on physiological ecology and wildlife ecotoxicology, investigating the energy costs of physiological and behavioral processes, tradeoffs among physiological systems, parental effects on offspring fitness, and the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances such as contaminants on wildlife. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, accumulating nearly 12,000 citations with an h-index of 59. Notable works include "Amphibians as models for studying environmental change" (2007), "Modulators of mercury risk to wildlife and humans in the context of rapid global change" (2018), and "Ecological, evolutionary, and conservation implications of incubation temperature-dependent phenotypes in birds" (2013). Hopkins has provided key scientific input for U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Damage Assessment cases, including the BP oil spill and TVA Kingston ash spill, served on seven National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees (chairing two), and contributed to editorial boards of three journals. His accolades include the 2021 State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, 2015 Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Excellence in Research, 2021 College of Natural Resources and Environment Research Achievement Award, 2017 CNRE Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award, and election as a Fellow of the Virginia Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2025. Hopkins has also developed nationally adopted mentoring models, led study abroad programs in the Amazon and Galápagos, and engaged with media outlets like 60 Minutes and NPR on environmental issues.