Cohort '21
Sara (Sally) Donovan
- UMN Email address: sdonovan@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sarah Hobbie and Jeannine Cavender-Bares
- Research Interests: Soil carbon and nitrogen, remote sensing of plant diversity and function
- Study System: Urban forests
- Degree Held: B.A., Carleton College, 2016; M.S., Yale University, 2021
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Rachael Kaspar
- UMN Email address: kaspa021@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Trevor Wardill
- Research Interests: Neuroecology; marine ecosystem resilience, data science
- Study System: Cephalopods (Hummingbird Bobtail Squid, Euprymna berryi)
- Degree Held: B.A., University of Colorado Boulder, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Katie Krueger
- UMN Email address: krueg989@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mark Bee and Marlene Zuk
- Research Interests: Animal communication; animal behavior; mate choice
- Study System: Frogs and crickets
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Wisconsin - La Crosse; M.S., Full Sail University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Abigail Meyer
- UMN Email address: meye2099@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Daniel Stanton
- Research Interests: Ecology and evolution of persistent mutualisms
- Study System: The lichen symbiosis
- Degree Held: B.A., University of Minnesota, 2017
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
David Munkvold
- UMN Email address: munkv002@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido
- Research Interests: Arthropod behavior, neurobiology, information processing and movement dynamics
- Study System(s): Diptera and Odonata; primarily predatory arthropods
- Degree Held: B.S., Macalester College, 2017
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Kavy Pathirana
- UMN Email address: pathi010@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sharon Jansa
- Research Interests: Evolution and diversification of mammals
- Study System: Small mammals
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2020
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Chau Pham
- UMN Email address: pham0326@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jennifer Powers
- Research Interests: Tropical dry forest ecology; transitions between savannas, dry forests, and moist forests; response of forests to disturbance
- Study System: Tropical dry forests
- Degree Held: B.S., Yale University, 2021
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Chris Wojan
- UMN Email address: wojan002@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Meggan Craft
- Research Interests: Infectious disease ecology; animal behavior
- Study System: Mammals
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, 2012; M.S., New Mexico State University, 2014
- Year of Entry into Program: 2021
Cohort '20
Anya Auerbach
- UMN Email address: auerb027@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sushma Reddy
- Research Interests: Macroevolution, diversification processes, biogeography
- Study System: modern birds
- Degree Held: B.S. University of Chicago, 2019
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Ave Bisesi
- UMN Email address: bises004@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Will Harcombe
- Research Interests: Coevolutionary dynamics, bacteria-phage interactions, evolution of mutualisms
- Study System: Microbial communities
- Degree Held: B.A, Oberlin College, 2017
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Mariana Cardenas
- UMN Email address: carde196@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Daniel Stanton
- Research Interests: Lichenized fungi ecology
- Study System:
- Degree Held: BSc, Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia); MSc, Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela)
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Charlotte Devitz
- UMN Email address: devit051@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Emilie Snell-Rood
- Research Interests: Animal personality, urban ecology, behavioral syndromes
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., Millersville University of Pennsylvania; M.S., University of Michigan
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Hanan Farah
- UMN Email address: farah147@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Forest Isbell
- Research Interests: Disturbance ecology and biodiversity recovery in American Grasslands. Plant/mycorrhizae interactions.
- Study System: Grasslands
- Degree Held: B.S Fisheries, Wildlife, Conservation Biology
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Alyssa Gooding
- UMN Email address: goodi037@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): George Heimpel
- Research Interests: Invasion ecology, parasite/parasitoid-host interactions, conservation of tropical environments; biological control
- Study System: Parasitic fly: Philornis downsi; Parasitoid wasp: Trichopria sp.
- Degree Held: B.S. SUNY University at Buffalo, 2020
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Lili Hagg
- UMN Email address: lhagg@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Marlene Zuk
- Research Interests: Behavior
- Study System: Crickets
- Degree Held: BA
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Maria Kalambokidis
- UMN Email address: kalam012@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Michael Travisano
- Research Interests: Life in the universe, origins of life, evolutionary biology, microbial experimental evolution
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2018
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Nishia Nieves
- UMN Email address: nieve041@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Peter Reich
- Research Interests: forest ecology, plant ecophysiology, global change
- Study System: NA
- Degree Held: B.A., Princeton University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Maria Park
- UMN Email address: park2447@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jeannine Cavender-Bares
- Research Interests: Plant ecophysiology, biodiversity, conservation biology, human-nature interactions, art-based science communication
- Study System: Trees
- Degree Held: B.A., Harvard University, 2019
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
James Peyla
- UMN Email address: peyla010@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Trevor Wardill
- Research Interests: Biology of Cephalopod Mollusks; Invertebrate Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, Anatomy, Physiology, and Behavior of Marine Organisms
- Study System: Cephalopods
- Degree Held: B.S. in Marine Biology, College of Charleston, 2018
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Aarcha Thadi
- UMN Email address: thadi003@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Marlene Zuk
- Research Interests: Sexual selection, evolution, how behavioral interactions and life-history traits feedback on each other
- Study System: Crickets (insects in general)
- Degree Held: BS-MS, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, 2020
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Martha Torstenson
- UMN Email address: torst017@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Allison Shaw
- Research Interests: Ecological Theory, migration
- Study System: NA
- Degree Held: B.A., Carleton College, 2018
- Year of Entry into Program: 2020
Cohort '19
Maggie Anderson
- UMN Email address: and04570@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Forest Isbell
- Research Interests: Prairie community ecology, global change, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, landscape restoration
- Study System: Tallgrass prairie
- Degree Held: B.A., Lawrence University, 2019
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Lang DeLancey
- UMN Email address: ldelance@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sarah Hobbie and Peter Kennedy
- Research Interests: Ecosystem Ecology, Mycology, Forest Ecology, Global Change Ecology
- Study System: Temperate Forest, Boreal Forest, Temperate Grasslands
- Degree Held: B.S, B.A, University of Michigan
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Dongmin (“Dennis”) Kim
- UMN Email address: kimx3725@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Allison Shaw and John Fieberg
- Research Interests: Statistical Ecology, Theoretical Ecology, Causes and Consequences of Animal Movement Variation
- Study System: NA
- Degree Held: B.A., University of Minnesota, Morris
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Simone Maddox
- UMN Email address: maddo048@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Keith Barker
- Research Interests: Heritable factors underlying urban tolerance; Why do some species thrive in cities (and others avoid them entirely)?
- Study System: Urban Birds
- Degree Held: B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, 2019
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Geoff Miller
- UMN Email address: mill8849@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): James Forester
- Research Interests: Movement and interspecific interactions of carnivores in urban landscapes.
- Study System: Coyotes and foxes in the Twin Cities Metro Area.
- Degree Held: B.A., Ecology, Goshen College
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Zheng Oong (“OZ”)
- UMN Email address: oong0001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sushma Reddy
- Research Interests: Avian systematics, phylogenetics, biogeography
- Study System: Tropical Asian avifauna
- Degree Held: B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 2018
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Eduardo Perez Pazos
- UMN Email address: perez844@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Peter Kennedy
- Research Interests: Fungal ecology. Life-history traits and trade-offs. Ecophysiology of mycorrhizal fungi
- Study System: Ectomycorrhizal fungi
- Degree Held: M.S
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Emma Roback
- UMN Email address: robac028@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Suzanne McGaugh and Ken Kozak
- Research Interests: Genetic and evolutionary underpinnings of complex traits, relationships between phenotypic plasticity and environmental change, science communication
- Study System: Cavefish and salamanders
- Degree Held: B.A,. Grinnell College 2019
- Year of Entry into Program: 2019
Cohort '18
Lauren Agnew
- UMN Email address: agne0050@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Emilie Snell-Rood
- Research Interests: Pollinator ecology and conservation
- Study System: Bees
- Degree Held: B.S.
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Abby Guthmann
- UMN Email address: guthm025@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Craig Packer
- Research Interests: Trophic interactions, animal behavior, impacts of anthropogenic presence on African vertebrates
- Study System: Maasai-Mara ecosystem in Kenya, community conservancies where livestock and wildlife exist in shared space
- Degree Held: BA Lawrence University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Brie Ilarde
- UMN Email address: ilard001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sharon Jansa
- Research Interests: Mammal systematics, morphological evolution, biogeography
- Study System: Rodents
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Washington, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Sean Keogh
- UMN Email address: keogh026@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Andrew Simons
- Research Interests: Evolution of morphological diversity and biomechanics
- Study System: Freshwater mussels
- Degree Held: B.S., M.S., University of Minnesota
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Molly Kuhs
- UMN Email address: kuhsx003@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Linda Kinkel
- Research Interests: Ecology of microorganisms/microbiomes, microbial interactions, microbial signaling
- Study System: Soil microbes - mostly antibiotic-producing bacteria Streptomycetes
- Degree Held: B.A. - Washington University in St. Louis, 2017
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Lata Kalra
- UMN Email address: kalra023@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mark Bee
- Research Interests: Animal communication, mate choice, receiver psychology
- Study System: Frogs
- Degree Held: BS-MS
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Janine Mistrick
- UMN Email address: mistr033@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Meggan Craft
- Research Interests: Impacts of social networks and environmental heterogeneity on wildlife disease transmission
- Study System: Bank voles, Puumala hantavirus; Lammi Biological Station, Finland
- Degree Held: B.S. The Pennsylvania State University, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Taryn Mueller
- UMN Email address: muellert@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): David Moeller
- Research Interests: Community ecology, ecology & evolution of plant-microbial interactions
- Study System: Fungal endophytes, endemic forbes
- Degree Held: B.A. in Biology (Biodiversity, Ecology & Conservation)
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Naven Narayanan Venkatanarayanan
- UMN Email address: venka210@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Allison Shaw
- Research Interests: Modelling of species interactions, range expansion and invasion, eco-evolutionary dynamics, ecological theory
- Study System: N/A
- Degree Held: BS-MS, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Siddhant Pusdekar
- UMN Email address: pusde001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido
- Research Interests: Neuroethology, Visual Neuroscience, Sensory ecology, Cognition
- Study System: Flies
- Degree Held: MSc. Neuroscience King's College London
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Joe Rabaey
- UMN Email address: rabae005@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jim Cotner
- Research Interests: Biogeochemistry, aquatic greenhouse gas production, ecology of aquatic systems
- Study System: Lakes and ponds
- Degree Held: B.A., Saint John's University (Minnesota), 2017
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Tyler Seidel
- UMN Email address: seide101@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jacques Finlay
- Research Interests: ecology, land-water interactions, global change
- Study System: urban ponds
- Degree Held: B.S. Biology-Conservation & Biodiversity
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Leno Smith
- UMN Email address: smi00671@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Will Harcombe
- Research Interests:
- Study System: Virus
- Degree Held:
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Megan Wilcots
- UMN Email address: wilcots@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Elizabeth Borer
- Research Interests: Global change, ecosystem ecology, nutrient deposition, herbivory
- Study System: Nutrient Network and long term herbivory/fertilization experiments
- Degree Held: B.A., Columbia University, 2018
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Max Zaret
- UMN Email address: zaret007@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Eric Seabloom and Linda Kinkel
- Research Interests: Herbivore, pathogen, and resource controls on plant productivity and community structure
- Study System: Grasslands
- Degree Held: B.A Indiana University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Rodrigo Zorrilla González
- UMN Email address: zorri004@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mike Travisano
- Research Interests: Microbial evolution
- Study System: NA
- Degree Held: BS in Marine biology & Genetics
- Year of Entry into Program: 2018
Cohort '17
Jessica Burkhart
- UMN Email address: burkh135@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Craig Packer
- Research Interests: Comparative study of neural mechanisms underlying social and other behaviors in lion and large cats
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Arizona
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Shanta Hejmadi
- UMN Email address: hejma002@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Keith Barker
- Research Interests: Evolutionary biology, phylogeny, biogeography, diversification and community assembly
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A. Lawrence University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Elihuruma Wilson Kimaro
- UMN Email address: kimar001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mike Wilson
- Research Interests: Human-chimpanzee interactions re: use of medicinal plants and feeding behavior in relation to the value of those plants
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., Wildlife Management, Sokoine University of Ag; M.S., Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management Nelson Mandela African Institution
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Mounica Kota
- UMN Email address: kotax023@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Marlene Zuk
- Research Interests: Interface between behavior and conservation; sexual selection, ornamentation, and conditions inducing role reversal in birds and insects
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., Oglethorpe University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Rachel Pain
- UMN Email address: repain@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jessica Hellmann
- Research Interests: Biodiversity and adaptation in changing landscapes, particularly with respect to climate change
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., Biology, St. Olaf College
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Tom Radomski
- UMN Email address: radom017@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Ken Kozak
- Research Interests: Biogeography and community assembly
- Study System: Salamanders
- Degree Held: B.S., Missouri State University; M.S., Ohio University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Kia Seehafer
- UMN Email address: seeha014@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): David Stephens
- Research Interests: Evolution of social behavior, social structures, communication, and decision-making in vertebrates
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., B.S., California State University, Sacramento
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Alexander Shephard
- UMN Email address: sheph095@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Emilie Snell-Rood
- Research Interests: Life-history evolution, behavior, phenotypic plasticity, adaptationism
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., McMaster University; M.S., McMaster University
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Amy Waananen
- UMN Email address: waana001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Diane Larson & Dan Cariveau
- Research Interests: Consequences of habitat fragmentation, esp. for pollination dynamics; plant population evolution and ecology; landscape connectivity
- Study System: Tallgrass prairie
- Degree Held: B.A., St. Olaf College
- Year of Entry into Program: 2017
Cohort '16
Saumya Gupta
- UMN Email address: gupta333@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mark Bee
- Research Interests: The evolution and mechanisms of animal communication and the relationship between the processing of signals in the nervous system to the changes in the behavior of animals.
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., M.S., Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali, India, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Sarah Hammarlund
- UMN Email address: hamma111@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): William Harcombe
- Research Interests: The ecology and evolution of microbial mutualisms
- Study System: Communities of bacteria
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Washington, 2012
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Anthony Massaro
- UMN Email address: massa060@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Michael Wilson
- Research Interests: Dynamics of cooperation and competition; how variation in cooperative behaviors affects tness
- Study System: Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes); Gombe National Park, Tanzania
- Degree Held: B.A., Gustavus Adolphus College, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Erin Mittag
- UMN Email address: mitta062@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sarah Hobbie, Jacques Finlay
- Research Interests: Land use and water quality interactions, urban ecology, biogeochemical processes, and science communication
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., St. Olaf College, 2012
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Amanda Muehlbauer
- UMN Email address: muehl038@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Ran Blekhman
- Research Interests: How host genetics interact with the microbiome and how these interactions influence human evolution.
- Study System: Primate Gut Microbiomes
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Minnesota, 2013
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Naomi Rushing
- UMN Email address: rushi013@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Ruth Shaw
- Research Interests: The consequences of translocating plant populations during prairie restoration efforts and the scale of local adaptation of native prairie plant species.
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., Grinnell College, 2002
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Craig See
- UMN Email address: crsee@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sarah Hobbie and Peter Kennedy
- Research Interests: The direct and indirect controls of mycorrhizal fungi over forest carbon and nitrogen cycling, and what they mean for sequestration.
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., Hamline University, 2009; M.S., SUNY College of Environmental Science, 2013
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Samuel Weaver
- UMN Email address: weave271@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Kenneth Kozak and Suzanne McGaugh
- Research Interests: Genetic basis of phenotypic adaptation, hybridization and differential gene introgression across species boundaries.
- Study System: Cavesh
- Degree Held: B.A., St. Olaf College, 2016
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Amod Zambre
- UMN Email address: zambr043@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Emilie Snell-Rood
- Research Interests: Evolution of sexual signals.
- Study System: Butteries and lizards
- Degree Held: BSc, University of Pune, 2010; MSc, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, 2013
- Year of Entry into Program: 2016
Cohort '15
George Furey
- UMN Email address: furey034@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): David Tilman
- Research Interests: Biodiversity management in human-dominated landscapes, ecosystem services
- Study System: Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
- Degree Held: B.A., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2011; M.S., University of British Columbia, 2014
- Year of Entry into Program: 2015
Alexander Harkness
- UMN Email address: harkn042@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Emma Goldberg
- Research Interests: Population genetics
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.S., University of Washington, 2012
- Year of Entry into Program: 2015
Rachel Olzer
- UMN Email address: olzer001@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Marlene Zuk
- Research Interests: How novel traits are maintained and the role of behavior in evolution
- Study System: Pacic eld cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus)
- Degree Held: B.S., Arizona State University-Tempe, 2014
- Year of Entry into Program: 2015
Melissa Pastore
- UMN Email address: mpastore@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Sarah Hobbie and Peter Reich
- Research Interests: Ecosystem ecology and global change
- Study System: Tall grass prairie, BioCON at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
- Degree Held: B.A., Pennsylvania State University-Univ Park, 2013; M.S., Villanova University, 2015
- Year of Entry into Program: 2015
Evelyn Strombom
- UMN Email address: strom522@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Steve Polasky
- Research Interests: Marine fisheries for global sustainability
- Study System:
- Degree Held: B.A., Swarthmore College, 2012
- Year of Entry into Program: 2015
Pu Wang
- UMN Email address: wang5922@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Michael Travisano
- Research Interests: Microbial experimental evolution of multicellularity
- Study System: Yeast, Ciliate
- Degree Held: B.S., Ocean University, 2012; M.S., Ocean University, 2015
- Year of Entry into Program: 201
Cohort '14
John Cossette
- UMN Email address: cosse009@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Mike Travisano
- Research Interests: Sociality and cooperation, the evolution of multicellularity, and the relationship between individual behavior and group-level tness
- Study System: Soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus
- Degree Held: B.A., Carleton College, 2011
- Year of Entry into Program: 2014
Monica Watson
- UMN Email address: watso541@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Georgiana May
- Research Interests: Evolution of Virulence in Multihost systems
- Study System: Fungi, plant, insect
- Degree Held: B.S., Pennsylvania State University, 2013
- Year of Entry into Program: 2014
Sarah Winikoff
- UMN Email address: wini0019@umn.edu
- Advisor(s): Jacques Finlay
- Research Interests: Ecosystem Ecology, Aquatic Ecology, Nutrient Remediation, Management-Based Science
- Study System: Geographically Isolated Wetlands, Prairie Pothole Wetlands, Flow-Through Wetlands
- Degree Held: B.A., University of Minnesota-Morris, 2010; M.S., University of Notre Dame, 2014
- Year of Entry into Program: 2014