RESEARCH & RESOURCES / THE EVIDENCE

The ideas behind the instrument.

Explore the funding, research plan, and intellectual property that underpin Wildmarker.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Monitoring and measuring wild animals without the need for capture

Award #2451775 · University of Idaho · $1,040,107
September 1, 2025–August 31, 2028

PUBLISHED PATENT APPLICATION

Precision delivery of oral and topical substances to animal populations

The University of Idaho application names Scott Nuismer, Luke Sheneman, and Michael Maughan as inventors. It describes an image-guided apparatus for interacting with selected animal subjects. Its scope is broader than this NSF project’s monitoring and measurement objectives.

Publication: US 2026/0223821 A1
Application: 19/149,485
Published: August 6, 2026
Priority claimed: January 19, 2023 · US 63/439,921
Inventors: Scott Nuismer · Luke Sheneman · Michael Maughan

Read the published application

Cited as a published patent application, not a granted patent. Bibliographic details checked September 20, 2026 against the published application text reproduced by Justia. Prosecution status has not been independently verified.

THE RESEARCH PLAN

From the proposal to the field

Device specifications, preliminary results, field-study plans, and annual milestones on this site draw on the team’s funded 2024 proposal. The timeline uses the official awarded dates. Future milestones describe the plan, rather than reporting completed work.

Explore the research timeline

The proposal itself is not distributed here. Project methods and performance results will be linked as public releases become available.

SOURCES & IMAGE CREDITS

Good science is traceable.

Project information

NSF award #2451775 NSF award data Published patent application

Device and detection illustrations: Wildmarker research team, funded proposal, Figures 3 and 4 (2024).

Wildlife photography

Northern Idaho ground squirrel: Madison Ficca / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The wildlife image illustrates the focal species. It is not presented as a Wildmarker camera record.

Team portraits & bios

University of Idaho faculty and IIDS profiles; Conway Lab; AI4RA workshop. Profile pages link to available biographical sources. Portrait copyrights remain with their respective owners.

Kyler Rachael’s and Hengyi Tian’s portraits were supplied by the project team.

Design & site content

Social-sharing card: AI-generated editorial illustration. All other displayed photographs and research figures are sourced, with no generated likenesses of team members.

Content researched September 20, 2026. For corrections, contact the team.