Graduate Students
Jeremy Mack joined our lab in the summer of 2009. His research interests are rooted in the field of disease ecology. Currently, his research is focused on the effects of UV on host-parasite interactions. Prior to joining the lab, Jeremy worked as an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and studied how variability in the landscape could influence the spread of mycoplasmosis in desert tortoises. Jeremy spent his first two years of the PhD program as a trainee in Miami and Kent State's NSF IGERT program, which focuses on environmental aquatic resource sensing.
Through this program, he explored how advanced sensor networks could be used to monitor biotic and abiotic conditions during aquatic disease outbreaks.
Jennie Brentrup, who joined the lab the fall 2011, is interested in the effect of increased precipitation on abiotic factors in alpine lakes. As part of the EARS-IGERT
program, she plans to develop sensors to deploy on an alpine lake buoy to study seasonal changes in precipitation. Jennie is also part of the
Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, GLEON, and hopes to collaborate with scientists studying alpine lakes in other geographic regions around the world.
Taylor Leach joined our lab in the Fall of 2011. Generally she is interested in the effects of climate change on zooplankton populations and predator-prey interactions of both invertebrate and vertebrate predators. Currently she is focusing on the influence of UV and water transparency on the diel vertical migration of zooplankton.