William Hopkins is a professor of wildlife conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech. He is the founding director of the Global Change Center and its interdisciplinary doctoral program, and associate executive director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. Hopkins is an internationally recognized researcher on the effects of anthropogenic disturbances such as climate change, pollution, and habitat loss on biodiversity.

He has received Virginia Tech’s Alumni Award for Research Excellence and Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award, as well as the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Hopkins advises agencies, industry, and other stakeholders on biodiversity threats and environmental disasters. He has served on seven committees of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.