Graduate Students

Interested in ecological physiology and investigating how the environment influences development, genetic modifications, and the health of organisms

Conducting research on wild pigs including aspects of spatial ecology, disease ecology, population ecology, movement patterns, survival and resource selection

Research focus in population genetics, amphibian ecology, quantitative genetics, toxicology of coal ash and heavy metal contaminants, rapid evolution, maternal effects, genetic assimilation, and roles of genetics and the environment on microbiome composition

Broad research interests in disease ecology, evolution and wildlife conservation; a current focus on understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics of avian malaria parasites in the Western Ghats sky-island, or mountain bird communities in India

Investigating the role of endocrine signaling and thermal cues experienced during embryonic development in permanently shaping the functional trajectory of the ovary and gene expression patterning in the American Alligator

Research interest in plant physiology, particularly the carbon dynamics in trees; currently investigating carbon flux and fixation

Investigating the influence of contaminated environments on source-sink dynamics in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Belarus and on the Savannah River Site; other areas of investigation include molecular ecology, landscape ecology, disease ecology, and animal behavior and evolution

Research interest in forest hydrology; research focuses on understanding water use and water sources for fast growing bioenergy crops

Investigating the physicochemical processes controlling the persistence, transport, and expression of genetically modified organism (GMO) released extracellular DNA in the subsurface environment, with a focus on different soil constituents that readily influence mineral surface properties

 Interested in how multiple stressors influence amphibian immunity, behavior, and physiology

Research interests in forest ecology, ecohydrology and plant communities; investigating to what extent overstory species in mixed oak-pine savannas utilize ground water and  their capacity to transport it to shallow soils through hydraulic lift

Investigating the drivers of amphibian community structure and influences on the dynamics of two diseases that impact amphibian communities, ranavirus and chytrid fungus

Currently evaluating the effectiveness of using rescued animals to bolster declining gopher tortoise populations at the Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve in Aiken County, South Carolina; research interests include applied ecology and wildlife behavior

Research interests are primarily in plant physiology and ecology as well as the use of mathematical modeling to study patterns in plant physiology

Research interests in plant physiology and disturbance ecology; currently exploring the effect that the prescribed burn season has on the mortality and carbon dynamics of Liquidambar Styraciflua

Using next generation high-throughput DNA sequencing to explore the impacts of the environmental contaminants on the diversity and genetics of the gut microbiome of vertebrate scavengers; using these same tools to explore the microbial ecology of terrestrial ecosystems which vertebrate scavengers inhabit at the Savannah River Site