Dr. Laura McClellan, age 60, was electrocuted when a metal pole she was using to set up a bat net touched an electric line at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Florida on August 21, 2016. She was an adjunct professor at Indian River State College in Florida, however the project she was working on at the time of her death was not associated with her work at the college.
Dr. McClellan earned her BS and MS degrees at Michigan State University prior to earning a doctorate at Kansas State University in 1988. After a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian she was a Visiting Professor at Coastal Carolina University and then an Assistant Professor at Central Missouri State University from 1991-1997. She then moved to Kean University and Ocean County College before starting at Indian River State College in 2013. Her work focused on shrews, mice, bats, and other mammals.
Source: Dr. Laura McClellan Linked-In Profile, accessed August 23, 2016; www.wptv.com;