University of Georgia

Graduate Students

Graduate Research Assistants Doctoral

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Emily Bertucci

Lab: Parrott
Odum School of Ecology

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

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Samantha Bock

Lab: Parrott
Odum School of Ecology

Interested in understanding the mechanisms of temperature-dependent sex determination in alligators and the ways in which man-made stressors like climate change and environmental contaminants can possibly interact with these mechanisms to produce consequences at both the individual and population levels

Denzell Cross awarded Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship "Athens, Ga. – Denzell Cross, a doctoral student in Integrative Conservation and Ecology at the University of Georgia, has been awarded a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. This highly selective award—approximately 65 were given in 2018—provides three years of support for study in pursuit of a doctorate. It recognizes academic excellence; promise for future achievement as a scholar, researcher and teacher in higher education; and capacity to use diversity as a resource to enrich the education of all students. Cross is the fourth UGA student to receive the award. Cross studies the impacts of landscape-scale disturbance on urban watersheds in Georgia using trait-based ecology and historical data. Specifically, he is exploring how the structure and function of communities of macroinvertebrates—small creatures like insects, crayfish and snails—living in streams and rivers change through time in response to increasing urbanization. His work will help inform management and conservation efforts in urban environments. “Denzell has been such a fantastic addition to my lab and to the Odum community,” said Cross’s doctoral advisor Krista Capps, assistant professor in the Odum School of Ecology and Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. “His proposed work has the potential to fundamentally change how we understand the long-term impacts of urbanization on animal communities. ​The recognition of Denzell’s potential as a scientist from the Ford Foundation is wonderful and exceptionally well-deserved.” The doctoral program in Integrative Conservation combines disciplinary depth in one of four areas—anthropology, ecology, geography or forestry and natural resources—and collaboration across disciplines and fields of practice, with a focus on solving the complex conservation challenges of the future. “Denzell is a perfect example of the kind of scholar we hope to train in the Integrati

Denzell Cross

Lab: Capps
Odum School of Ecology

Research investigates the long-term and historical impacts of development and urbanization on aquatic insect communities in Atlanta, Georgia, including exploring functional responses of stream invertebrates using species’ traits in order to determine which traits allow stream biota to survive in urbanizing regions

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Jennifer McDaniel

Lab: Aubrey
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Broadly interested in forest ecology; current research focuses on fire ecology and tree physiology or the physiology of trees

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Kiersten Nelson

Lab: Lance
Odum School of Ecology 

Interested in conservation, herpetology, ecotoxicology, wetland ecology, and disease ecology; research focuses on factors that influence amphibian community dynamics in the Southeast

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Scott Oswald

Lab: Aubrey
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

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

 

Jessica Patterson, lecturer of biology, has helped create an app to identify snakes in the area. She has done this with Dr. Allison Bailey. The student pictured with them is Jacob Lougee, from Duluth, GA. He is a B.S. in Environmental & Spatial Analysis major and the student GIS technician on Drs. Bailey & Mitchem's Native Forest Ecosystems Grant from the EPA. Jacob is helping faculty create apps for collecting data for forest ecosystems, like this snake app, but also tree species, soil sampling, and water sampling. The photos were shot at the Elachee Nature Science Center in Gainesville, Ga. Laurin Peacock, the Elachee naturalist (in green polo shirt) is seen in several of the photos.

Jessica Patterson

Lab: Beasley 
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research focuses primarily on the effects of tourism pressure on African mammal behavior, movement, and spatial ecology; investigating African carnivore diets to understand how predators may be interacting with livestock and the broader landscape in areas of high human-carnivore conflict;  interests include conservation biology, species interactions, human-wildlife conflict, and the effects of anthropogenic activities on ecosystem health and wildlife behavior

 

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Ethan Shealy

Lab: Parrott
Odum School of Ecology 

Research focuses on how an organism’s environment and epigenome interact to produce different phenotypes, especially those associated with development and aging trajectories; interests include evolution, genomics, ecotoxicology, and integrative approaches to biology

 

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Jake Smith

Lab: Xu and Hazelton
Interdisciplinary Toxicology

Research uses molecular methods to evaluate the effects of environmental contamination on soil bacterial assemblages; interests include ecotoxicology, ecological genetics, community ecology, and restoration ecology

Graduate Research Assistants Masters

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Helen Bontrager

Lab: Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interested in the spatial and radioecology of wild boar in and around the Fukushima Exclusion Zone

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Viviana P. Bravo

Lab: Bier and Capps 
Odum School of Ecology

Research will identify and evaluate pollution-sensitive aquatic macroinvertebrate communities distributed across five major stream systems on the Savannah River Site; research interests are conservation of freshwater ecosystems, land use, sustainable development, and climate change

 

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Sydney Brewer

Lab: Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research focuses on the movement ecology of wild pigs to understand their response to different baits and lures; interests include wildlife management and conservation, human-wildlife interactions, spatial ecology, and wildlife disease

 

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Emma Browning

Lab: Tuberville and Rhodes
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research interests and experience include reintroducing gopher tortoises, massasaugas, and flatwood salamanders; currently working in turtle conservation and management

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Vienna Canright

Lab: Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Conducting research on the environmental impacts of wild pigs with a focus on using molecular methods to determine wild pig food habits; interests include wildlife conservation and management, behavioral ecology, and human-wildlife conflict

James Chapin

Lab: Abrams
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research focuses on social-ecological resilience as a guiding principle in forest management, and how the concept has been implemented across U.S. Forest Service lands

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Christine Fallon

Lab: Capps
Odum School of Ecology

Studying how intermittency shapes aquatic communities and food web dynamics of secondary consumer fishes in streams

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Shane Guenin

Lab: DeVault  and Martin
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research investigates the behavior and perception of ducks in response to approaching vehicles to help reduce collisions with aircraft

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Kelly Holland, AWB® 

Lab: Tuberville and Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research interests include conservation of threatened and endangered species, human-wildlife conflict, and habitat management; research will compare biological communities in historically contaminated sites to reference sites within SRS to inform future remediation efforts

 

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Brittany E. Jensen

Lab: Xu and Bringolf
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interested in ecotoxicology, biogeochemistry, and environmental remediation; current research investigates the utilization of biochar, a form of charcoal, for remediation of mercury from contaminated soil

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Josiah Johnson

Lab: Parrott
Odum School of Ecology

Research focuses on the impacts of environmental contamination and temperature on amphibian sex ratios with implications for long-term population viability; research interests include wildlife conservation, behavioral ecology, and herpetology

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Emma Kelsick

Lab: Bier and Lance
Odum School of Ecology

Interested in the influence of land management practices on terrestrial and aquatic microbial structures and nutrient processing

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Laura Kojima

Lab: Parrott
Odum School of Ecology

Research focuses on assessing contaminant loads in alligator tail muscle and the degree to which alligators travel onto and off of the Savannah River Site to investigate exposure concerns associated with the public harvest and consumption of alligators in the region

 

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Susanna Mann

Lab: Tuberville and Rushing
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interests include practical conservation strategies for endangered and threatened species, wetland and landscape ecology and public education; research will focus on the effectiveness of head-starting in Mojave desert tortoises as a mitigation tool to increase juvenile survival

Craig Marshall

Lab: Martin
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Investigating gopher tortoise ecology in pine production forests of the Southeastern United States

 

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Adam McFall

Lab: Lance
Odum School of Ecology 

Research investigates carryover effects and habitat impacts in at-risk amphibians to help improve headstarting and habitat management strategies; research interests include conservation ecology, behavioral ecology, wetland ecology, ecotoxicology, and herpetology

Madeline Melton

Lab: Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Current research focuses on the effects of human settlements, conservation fencing, and livestock in regard to African carnivore movement and occupancy; research interests include carnivore behavioral ecology, human-wildlife conflict, and urban wildlife ecology.

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Carson Pakula

Lab: Travis DeVault
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interested in behavioral ecology, wildlife conservation, and human-wildlife interactions; research investigates the behavior of deer and wild pigs to help reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions

 

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Kathryn Quinlin

Lab: Xu and Beasley
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interested in ecotoxicology, community ecology, and conservation; research will focus on the impacts of radiocaesium and mercury on aquatic communities and the efficacy of remedial activities within the Savannah River Site

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Collin Richter

Lab: Tracey Tuberville and Kohl
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research interests include spatial and community ecology, species conservation, and wildlife management; currently researching movement, survival, and predation risks of post-release head-started Mojave desert tortoises

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Ryan Rimple

Lab: Tracey Tuberville  and  Kohl
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interests include conservation, life history strategies, and factors influencing reproductive success of individuals; current research involves investigating translocations of formerly captive eastern box turtles into the wild and post-translocation reproductive success.

Shelby Simons

Lab: Martin
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Conservation management, declining species, and movement ecology; research will focus on translocated northern bobwhite from private to public land (Apalachicola National Forest) and assess movement, habitat use and site fidelity

 

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Samantha Siragusa

Lab: Abrams
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Interested in sustainable development and conservation management; currently interning in the Office of Sustainability as the Chew Crew intern and working on ecological restoration with prescribed grazing

 

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Christopher Smaga

Lab: Parrott 
Odum School of Ecology

From the level of DNA to cells to whole organisms, research is focused on the impact the environment has on embryonic development; studying alligators to determine the consequences of environmental contaminants on embryonic gonadal development and the epigenome to understand how these translate into later life stages and overall health; interests include general ecology, physiology, and behavior of reptiles and amphibians

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 Tucker Stonecypher

Lab: Lance
Odum School of Ecology

Studying wetland restoration techniques to improve wetland plant communities for at-risk amphibians; investigating head-starting practices to increase juvenile survival in Carolina gopher frogs; interested in restoration ecology, herpetology, wetland plant communities, and disturbance ecology

 

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Christian Swartzbaugh

Lab: Lance and Capps
Odum School of Ecology 

Interests include behavioral ecology, biodiversity and community ecology of fishes; research focuses on the effects of legacy contaminants on freshwater fish communities

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Corinne Sweeney

Lab: Lance and Capps
Odum School of Ecology 

 

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 Chuck Taylor, AWB®

Lab: Beasley 
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research involves wild pig population dynamics and using game cameras to estimate wild pig populations; investigating various trap types for wild pigs and their individual efficacies; interests include wildlife-human conflict, invasive species, behavioral ecology, and the conservation and management of game species

 

Jack H. Taylor

Lab: Aubrey
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Research is focused on how consistent prescribed fire treatments given at various intervals affect a tree’s growth rate and the stand’s structure

 

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Elise Webb

Lab: Parrott and Xu

Interested in studying how emerging anthropogenic, or man-produced contaminants move through the environment and cause biological changes at the cellular and ecosystem levels

 

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Kristen Zemaitis

Labs: Parrot and Byers

Odum School of Ecology 

Research is focused on the ecotoxicology and diet of American alligators in the southeast; research interests include their reproductive behavior, genetics, and spatial ecology