Current students in the program
Andrea (Andi) Baker
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I am interested in atmospheric mercury and how this research contributes to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Email Address: andreabaker@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Taylor Brown
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: I am interested in modeling tree demographics at a landscape scale using geospatial data and machine learning techniques.
Email Address: taylorrbrown@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Tyler Brasington
Pronouns: he/him
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: Broadly, my research interests include large carnivore health and physiology, infectious disease, spatial ecology, and developing and employing unique strategies to reduce human-wildlife conflict. My PhD research focuses on exploring the impacts of anthropogenic food subsidies on American black bear health and physiology in the Lake Tahoe Basin through a One Health framework.
Email Address: tbrasington@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Kevin Salvador Charpentier
Pronouns: he/him
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I'minterested in forest complexity and progressing management strategies that increase persistence potential.
Email Address: kcharpentier@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Elena Cox
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: I am interested in how severity, management, and climate change affect ecosystem response to fire. My research examines soil heating during wildfires and the effects of wildfires on soil health and microbial processes.
Email Address: elenacox@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Michelle DesLauriers
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I am studying the drivers and implications of insect defoliator outbreaks on forest health in Southeast Alaska.
Email Address: mdeslauriers@unr.edu
Lab URL: The Bisbing Lab
Jenna DiFolco
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I am interested in large mammal ecology, specifically population ecology, habitat selection, and predator-prey interactions. My research focuses on Hart Mountain bighorn sheep in Southeast Oregon, where I’ll be monitoring population recovery, lamb recruitment, and forage quality.
Email Address: jdifolco@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Alanna Garcia
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I am passionate about mammal ecology and the ways in which high-quality research can illuminate patterns in animal movement, behavior, and resource selection. My research centers on black bear ecology in Nevada, with a particular focus on habitat selection and the effects of the expanding urban interface.
Email Address:alannagarcia@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Brooke Goins
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: My research interests lie in aquatic ecosystem ecology, with a focus on food web modeling to identify the mechanisms through which native fish assemblage restoration influences food-web structure, species interactions, and ecosystem processes in the Great Basin.
Email Address:brookegoins@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Shreya Gosavi
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: My research interests include hydrological and agricultural modeling using data from a variety of sources, including in-field measurements and remote sensing. I am most motivated by the question of how we can use our water most efficiently to grow crops such as alfalfa, while trading away as little yield and plant quality as possible.
Email Address:shreyag@unr.edu
Eddy Kapp
Pronouns: She/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: I am interested in researching native desert fish and their interactions with non-native fish and other aquatic life.
Email Address: ekapp@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Khushi
Pronouns: She/her
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: My research is focused on a simple question: how can we grow more alfalfa crop with less water? Using techniques such as crop modeling and yield forecasting, I develop smarter water-management strategies for alfalfa grown in arid and semi-arid regions, where every drop counts.
Email Address: khushil@unr.edu
Cami Lee
Pronouns: She/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: My research interests include the impacts of soil nutrients and properties in soils where cheatgrass is absent and present in the Great Basin. I am interested in seeing if soil amendments influence nutrient availability and plant growth.
Email Address: camilee@unr.edu
Margaret Moody
Pronouns: She/her
Status: Master of Science
Research Interests/Bio: My main interest is restoration ecology. Specifically, the design and planning of habitat restoration projects, as well as long-term monitoring and data analysis to measure project outcomes.
Email Address: margaretmoody@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Tyler Pelletier
Pronouns: He/him
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: My research focuses on how landscape, climate, and microsites influence the regeneration, growth, and mortality of endangered conifers in the Sierra Nevada. I am interested in providing relevant research on the problems faced by forest managers in the Intermountain West.
Email: tpelletier@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Elise Pletcher
Pronouns: She/they
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: Using methods in population and geospatial ecology to study landscape-scale shifts in the distribution and abundance of pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Intermountain West.
Email Address: epletcher@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Chris Smith
Pronouns: he/him
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: My research has focused primarily on birds, mammals, and plants and has taken me to many countries, including Peru, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, and Namibia. I am probably overly obsessed with pika, and love backpacking, trail running, birding, tracking, and teaching natural history to people of all ages.
Email Address: chrissmith@unr.edu
Lab URL:
Gavin Sutter
Pronouns: he/him
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: Broadly, I am interested in using modeling, spatial ecology, and population genomics to understand how environmental variability, dispersal, and disturbance shape species distributions and population structure. Currently, I'm interested in applying these techniques to better understand the distribution and demography of Pinus monophylla at its northern range limit in the Great Basin.
Lab URL:
Jordan Zabrecky
Pronouns: she/her
Status: Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interests/Bio: Broadly, I am interested in the intersection of water quality, ecological & public health and environmental data science. My dissertation research focuses on understanding the timing of benthic cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin production in rivers of northern California to develop forecasting models.
Email Address: jzabrecky@unr.edu
Lab URL:
