In 2017, Waits was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her "contributions to research and teaching in conservation genetics, wildlife and conservation biology, and for development of techniques for the non-invasive sampling of DNA."
Waits was born and raised in rural Georgia, where she was inspired to study genetics in high school.
[2] Waits chose to pursue a career in wildlife genetics after participating in a research project at the Yellowstone National Park.
[1] While earning her PhD, Waits developed non-invasive techniques for gathering samplings of DNA from animals.
In 1996, she worked alongside researchers at the University of Alberta to develop a test which could examine carcases of bears and determine their species.