People

Current lab members

Jacki Young, Research technician

Jacki is assisting with projects to compare thermal performance and heavy metal loads between color morphs of eastern gray squirrels.

Undergraduate students

Many undergraduate assistants are working in the lab to help with an experiment comparing thermal performance between color morphs of eastern gray squirrels. If you are an HWS undergraduate interested in getting basic research experience, send me an email or stop by my office in Rosenberg 107.

Former lab members

Dr. Christy Wails, Postdoctoral associate

Dr. Wails used time series analysis to investigate changes in island vegetation structure in response to invasive mammal removal as part of our collaborative project with Island Conservation funded by NASA. Dr. Wails is now an Assistant Professor at South Dakota State University.

Jessica Sprole, Jasmine Ho, Ryan Agans (summer undergraduate researchers)

The 2025 summer research group piloted an experimented to compare thermal performance between color morphs of eastern gray squirrels.

Dr. Jesse Borden, Postdoctoral associate

Dr. Borden investigated spatial variation in coat color in gray squirrel as part of our NSF project on urban evolution. Dr. Borden is now an ecologist with Great Ecology.

Sam Dennenberg, Research technician

Sam led field work on an experiment to test for differential attack rates by predators on color morphs of eastern gray squirrels in urban and rural environments.

Calvin Lincoln, Chidalu Nwokolo, James Nelson, Aidan Staunton, Magnus Von Krusenstiern (summer undergraduate researchers)

Summer research teams in 2023 and 2024 that used behavioral trials in the field to compare antipredator behavior bewteen color morphs of eastern gray squirrels in different environmental contexts of the urban landscape.

Ruben Navarro, Devon Adams, and Hannah Huston (summer undergraduate researchers)

Ruben, Devon, and Hannah compared ectoparasite loads between color morphs of eastern gray squirrels as part of the HWS Summer Research Program in 2022.

Joelee Tooley, Research technician

Joelee worked on our NSF project on urban evolution with eastern gray squirrels, assisting with camera trapping, live-trapping, and database management. Joelee is now a Research Support Specialist at Cornell University.

Dr. John Vanek, Postdoctoral associate

Dr. Vanek worked on our NSF project on urban evolution with eastern gray squirrels, developing our trapping methods and leading a translocation experiment to test for differential survival between color morphs in urban and rural environments. Dr. Vanek is currently a Zoologist with the New York Natural Heritage Program.

Richard Rich, Research technician

Richard worked on our urban evolution project on eastern gray squirrels, assisting with camera trapping, live-trapping, and database management. Richard is working on an MsC degree at Oregon State University.

Henry Loudon, Undergraduate researcher

Henry completed an independent study project piloting experimental approaches to measure predator attack rates on eastern gray squirrels.

Samantha Sorensen, Undergraduate researcher

Samantha completed an independent study project piloting experimental approaches to measure predator attack rates on eastern gray squirrels.

Mark Suchewski, Undergraduate researcher

Mark participated in the 2021 Summer Research Program and completed an independent study on the effects of experimental translocation on the behavioral and survival of gray squirrel color morphs. Mark also worked in my lab in summer 2019 on a project to understand behavioral responses of banner-tailed kangaroo rats to grassland restoration in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. Mark currently works in sales and dealer services at HMS Motorsport.

Regina Hashim, Undergraduate researcher

Regina participated in the 2021 Summer Research Program and helped initiate a new project to test for differences in survival between gray and melanic color morphs of eastern gray squirrels in urban and rural environments.

Connor Parrow, Undergraduate researcher

Connor worked in my lab during the 2020 Summer Research Program, using camera traps to understand urbanization effects on the abundance and distribution of gray squirrels and other small mammals. Connor is working on a PhD in applied mathematics at Notre Dame.

Alessandra Bryan, Undergraduate researcher

Ally completed an honors thesis in my lab in 2019-20 on how urbanization and forest change affect crypsis of eastern gray squirrels. Ally worked on a couple of different project in my lab prior to her honors thesis, including understanding land use legacy effecds on behavioral variation in red-backed salamanders, and characterizing the population genetic structure of an isolated population of plains pocket gophers. Ally is currently completing an MD program at Dartmouth University.

Britta Goncarovs, Undergraduate researcher

Britta worked in my lab in summer 2018 to study effects of land use history on behavioral variation in red-backed salamanders, and she continued as aresearch assistant to help create a model of forest cover change in New England since the early 1970s using Landsat data. In 2019 she was a summer research student in southern New Mexico studying how grassland restoration in the Chihuahuan Desert affects the behavior of banner-tailed kangaroo rats.

Percy Marshall, MS, Undergraduate researcher

Percy worked with Prof. David Droney and me in summer 2017 to study effects of land use history on behavioral variation in red-backed salamanders. Percy completed an honors thesis on the relationship between water balance and movement personalities in red-backed salamanders, then went on to complete an MS in wildlife management in the USGS Cooperative Wildlife Unit at University of Arkansas. Currently Percy is a PhD student in Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University.

Penelope Murphy, MS, Undergraduate researcher

Penelope worked with me in summer 2018 in New Mexico to study biodiversity responses to grassland restoration in the Chihuahuan Desert. Penelope completed an M.S. degree in wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Banan Otaibi, MD, Undergraduate researcher

Banan examined differences in post-attack antipredator behavior between color morphs of red-backed salamanders in summer 2016 and published a paper on her work in Amphbia-Reptilia. She completed an honors thesis on effects of forest fragmentation on genetic population structure and color polymorphism in red-backed salamanders. Banan earned an MD at Penn State and is currently a resident in surgery at University of Arizona.

Dr. Michael Conroy, MD, undergraduate researcher

Michael completed an independent study in Fall 2017 on social and economic factors that affect prevalence of chlamydia in the Midwestern U.S. Michael earned an MD at SUNY Upstate and is a resident at University of Washington.

Katie Rogan, Undergraduate researcher

Katie conducted a lab experiment in summer 2016 to examine how stress differentially affects movement decisions in red-backed salamanders with different movement personalities.

Quincey Johnson, Undergraduate researcher

Quincey started working in my lab in spring 2016 as a GIS technician, and she continued working with me as a full-time research technician in summer 2016. She came back to the lab as a research technician in summer 2017 to work on biodiversity responses to restoration of desert grasslands in New Mexico. Quincey is a Project and Outreach Coordinator at Madison River Foundation in Bozeman, MT.

Shay Callahan, MS, Undergraduate researcher

Shay was a summer research student in 2016 and studied the effects of forest fragmentation on behavior of red-backed salamanders. She came back to the lab as a research technician in summer 2017 to work on biodiversity responses to restoration of desert grasslands in New Mexico. Shay completed an MS in ecology at the University of Illinois and is now a PhD student in animal evolutionary ecology at University of Münster.

Thomas Stephens, Undergraduate researcher (Union College)

Thomas came from Union College in summer 2016 and worked with Katie on personality-dependent movement behavior in red-backed salamanders. He also collected preliminary data on how timber harvest affects color morph frequencies in red-backed salamanders.

Dr. Maddie Balman, PhD, Undergraduate researcher

Maddie worked in my lab as a research assistant in summer 2014, helping to sample terrestrial salamanders in the field and take care of animals in the lab. She completed an independent study with me in spring 2015 on how roads affect movement behavior of spotted salamanders. She then worked as a summer research student in 2015 on the effects of forest fragmentation on behavior of red-backed salamanders. Maddie completed a PhD in ecology and evolution at Case Western Reserve University and is Curriculum and Pedagogy Manager in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Harvard University.

Dr. Lauren Walter, PhD, Undergraduate researcher

Lauren started in the lab as a research assistant working lab work for a project on the population genetics of red-backed salamanders. She completed an independent study with me in Fall 2014 on bird-window collisions. Lauren is completed a PhD in genomics and bioinformatics at Cornell University and is now a postdoc at Northwestern University.

Alison McCarthy, Undergraduate researcher

Alison started working in my lab on the population genetics of banner-tailed kangaroo rats in Fall 2012. She was a summer research student in 2013 and 2014, and she completed honors work on effects of forest fragmentation on behavior of red-backed salamanders. She’s currently a Coastal Watershed Protection Coordinator at Clean Ocean Action.

Nick Steijn, Undergraduate researcher

Nick conduced summer research in 2014 on the abundance and distribution of terrestrial salamanders along a forest fragmentation gradient. Nick is currently a graduate student at Northern Illinois University working on effects of invasive plant removal on small mammal communities.

Kristen Cronmiller, Undergraduate researcher

Kristen started working in my lab on the population genetics of red-backed salamanders in fall 2014, and then she continued working with me as a full-time research technician throughout 2015.

Sam Knopka, MS, Undergraduate researcher

Sam completed summer research (2013) and an honors thesis on the spatial distribution of red-backed salamanders along a forest fragmentation gradient at Finger Lakes National Forest. Sam completed an MS in Wildlife Ecology at West Virginia University and is now a biologist with the Mark Twain National Forest.