MEET OUR IGC FELLOWS

The Interfaces of Global Change IGEP provides PhD students with a unique intellectual focus and training. Each IGC Fellow gains depth in their specific scientific area of expertise (e.g. biology or engineering), while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.

The IGC Graduate Student Association exists to benefit the IGC community as a whole through student contributions to infrastructural, educational, and social investments and activities.

Ben Ahlswede

Ph.D. Student

Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Research Interests: Interactions of terrestrial ecosystems with climate; feedbacks of land-use and land-cover change to surface energy balance

Advisor: Dr. Quinn Thomas

Gifty Anane-Taabeah

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: Fish ecology; climate change effects on fish; fish conservation; genetics; aquaculture

Advisor: Dr. Emmanuel Frimpong

Brooke L. Bodensteiner

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Addressing climate change through physiological ecology, phylogenetics, and geospatial techniques

Advisor: Dr. Martha Muñoz

Kristen Bretz

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Stream ecology, the effects of climate change on aquatic biogeochemistry

Advisor: Dr. Erin Hotchkiss

Rachel K. Brooks

Ph.D. Student

Department of  Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science

Research Interests: Forest pests, invasive species, biocontrol

Advisor: Dr. Anton Baudoin and Dr. Scott Salom

Felipe Carvalho

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: Fisheries management; fish ecology; invasive species; climate change

Advisor: Dr. Leandro Castello

Sara Cathey

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Community ecology; stream ecology; restoration ecology

Advisor: Dr. Bryan Brown

Fadoua El Moustaid

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Vector-borne diseases, infectious disease prevention and control, disease ecology, climate effect on disease spread, quantitative ecology, mathematical and statistical modeling of biological systems

Advisor: Dr. Leah Johnson

Angie Estrada

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Disease ecology and risk assessment, wildlife and captive population management, conservation biology, environmental policy in developing countries and community science.

Advisor: Dr. Lisa Belden

Mary Jade Farruggia

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Management and conservation of freshwater species

Advisor: Dr. Meryl Mims

Tamara Fetters

Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: ecological genetics, physiology, and animal behavior

Advisor: Dr. Joel McGlothlin

Becky Fletcher

Ph.D. Student

Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology & Weed Science

Research Interests: Invasive Species, climate change impacts on Johnsongrass

Advisor: Dr. Jacob Barney

Kerry Gendreau

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biology

Research Interests: Genomics, evolutionary biology, coevolution, adaptation, conservation genetics

Advisor: Dr. Joel McGlothlin

Mike Graham

Ph.D. Student

Department of Geography

Research Interests: Remote sensing of crop residue and tillage practices, effects of different tillage practices on biogeochemical and biogeophysical aspects of global climate

Advisor: Dr. Megan O’Rourke

Bennett Grooms

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: Human dimensions of wildlife; citizen science; conservation sociology; wildlife education; animal behavior

Advisor: Dr. Ashley Dayer

Ariel Heminger

Ph.D. Student

Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology & Weed Science

Research Interests: Plant-insect-microbe interactions, chemical ecology, genomics, micro biome, climate change

Advisor: Dr. David Haak

Derek Hennen

Ph.D. Student

Department of Entomology

Research Interests: Entomology: systematics and ecology; Invasive species; Natural history; Climate change; Anthropogenic effects on the environment; science policy

Advisor: Dr. Paul Marek

Jessica Hernandez

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: stress and reproductive physiology; behavioral endocrinology; urban ecology

Advisor: Dr. Ignacio Moore

Sydney Hope

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: animal behavior and physiology, early developmental effects, maternal effects, effects of climate change, urbanization, and habitat loss

Advisor: Dr. William Hopkins

Korin Jones

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: microbial ecology

Advisor: Dr. Lisa Belden

Meredith Keeley

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: behavioral endocrinology; examining how lemurs respond to ecological stress; dispersal behavior/fission-fusion dynamics in primates; the importance of habitat connectivity; and overall primate responses to anthropogenic disturbances

Advisor: Dr. Ignacio Moore

Vasiliy Lakoba

Ph.D. Student

Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology & Weed Science

Research Interests: Invasion ecology, restoration ecology, land management policy

Advisor: Dr. Jacob Barney

Sam Lane

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Behavioral ecology, endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, ecophysiology

Advisor: Dr. Kendra Sewall

Mary Lofton

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: limnology; effects of climate change and land use change/degradation on plankton diversity and trophic webs in lakes and reservoirs and implications for water quality; best practices in scientific communication regarding policy, resource management, and education

Advisor: Dr. Cayelan Carey

Cristina E. Marcillo

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Research Interests: Linking land use changes with environmental and public health risks; ecological and public health engineering, environmental policy and global development, and diversity in engineering education

Advisor: Dr. Leigh-Anne Krometis

Zach Martin

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: stream habitat management, landscape ecology, reproductive biology of fishes, watershed modeling, spatial modeling

Advisor: Paul Angermeier

Ryan McClure

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions in reservoirs

Advisor: Dr. Cayelan Carey

Noah McNeill

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Ornithology, animal behavior, ecology, conservation biology, anthropogenic land use

Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Walters

David Millican

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: avian ecology and conservation, natural and sexual selection, game theory, and breeding ecology

Advisor: Dr. Jeff Walters

Chloe Moore

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: landscape and population ecology, conservation genetics, landscape genetics

Advisor: Dr. Meryl Mims

Leah Novak

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Impacts of habitat loss and climate change on avian species; the application of science to conservation, management, and public policy

Advisor: Dr. Jeff Walters

Rebecca O’Brien

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: Behavioral ecology, wildlife biology, science communication, landowner relations, sensory ecology

Advisor: Dr. William Hopkins and Dr. Ashley Dayer

Ernie Osburn

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Community and ecosystem ecology. Effects of land use and climate change on soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling.

Advisor: Dr. Jeb Barrett

Joshua Rady

Ph.D. Student

Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Research Interests: Ecological and eco-climate modeling, forest ecology and dynamics, systems ecology, decision analysis, land use change

Advisor: Dr. Quinn Thomas

Max Ragozzino

Ph.D. Student

Department of Entomology

Research Interests: Invasive species, entomology, biological control

Advisor: Dr. Scott Salom

Brandon Semel

Ph.D. Student

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Research Interests: primate ecology and conservation, habitat fragmentation, effects of past and present climate change on organismal distribution, behavioral plasticity, endangered species, land use in Madagascar, anthropogenic environmental disturbance, reforestation

Advisor: Dr. Sarah Karpanty

Hye-jeong Seo

Ph.D. Student

School of Public and International Affairs

Research Interests: Environmental risk communication, environmental planning and policy, collaborative planning and decision-making, public participation, public dispute resolution

Advisor: Dr. Todd Schenk

Ben Vernasco

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Mechanisms of animal behavior, population dynamics, conservation biology, and ornithology

Advisor: Dr. Ignacio Moore

Nicole K. Ward

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: freshwater ecology, hysteresis of lake water quality, human impacts on freshwater systems, policy and management

Advisor: Dr. Cayelan Carey

Carl J. Wepking

Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Soil ecology, functional ecology, nematology, agroecology and sustainability

Advisor: Dr. Michael Strickland

Maya Wilson

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, conservation biology, ornithology

Advisor: Dr. Jeff Walters

Lauren Wind

Ph.D. Student

Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Research Interests: Environmental dissemination of antibiotic resistance; Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARBs) and genes (ARGs); soil ecology; Human health and risk assessment

Advisor: Dr. Leigh-Anne Krometis and Dr. Cully Hession

Brenen M. Wynd

Ph.D. Student

Department of Geosciences

Research Interests: paleoecology, functional morphology, phylogenetics, conservation paleobiology, mass extinctions

Advisor: Dr. Sterling Nesbitt