Graduate Students

Alissandra Ayala

PhD Student

 Email: anayal01@louisville.edu

 Education: B.S.A. in Biology- The University of Texas at Austin 2019

Research Interests: I am interested in how the urban heat island effect influences pollinator and forb phenology.

Webpage: Twitter: @AlissandraAyala

Rose Amrhein

PhD Student/Graduate Teaching Assistant

 Email:rmamrh01@louisville.edu

 Education: B.S. in Zoology from Juniata College

                   M.S. in Primate Behavior and Ecology from Central Washington University

 Research Interests: Anthropogenic influences on primate social behavior. Specifically, how human derived food and conflict relate to play behavior and communication in social primates.

Shannon Walker

Ph.D. Student

Pronouns: she/her

Email: shannon.walker@louisville.edu

Education: 

M.S. Biology, Virginial Commonwealth University (2019)

B.S. Biological Sciences, emphasis in Environmental Biology, The University of Southern Mississippi (2017)

Research Interests: 

I study how global change affects coastal plant species and communities. I take a trait-based approach to understanding how human-driven changes to nutrient availability, climate, and disturbance regimes impact key habitats and their environmental functions.

Julia Kachanova

PhD Student & Teaching Assistant

Email: julia.kachanova@louisville.edu

Education: MSc in Forestry and Natural Resources Management, University of Padova, Italy, 2020

Research Interests: urban green spaces, ecosystem services, plant and insect biodiversity, urban ecology, heat island effect, soil health, social justice

Rebecca Dangol

PhD

Pronouns: she/her

Email: rebecca.dangol@louisville.edu

Education: Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology, SANN International College, Purbanchal University, Nepal

Research Interests: My research interest involves studying smut fungi named Ustilago maydis which infect maize plants. Ustilago maydis a great model organism to study fungal-plant interaction. My work mainly focused on the study of the role of MAT b locus and its regulation in the haploid cell type under nitrogen starvation conditions.

Linkedin 

Roxanne Hayes

PhD Candidate

Email: roxanne.hayes@louisville.edu

Education: BA and MA in Anthropology at the University of Louisville

Research Interests: Through my experiences as both a biological anthropology and molecular biology graduate student, I have remained fascinated by the flow of genetic information through time and across geological space. My research focus moved from human population genetics to functional genetics in fungi but there has always been an underlying interest in the factors that shape genomes. My dissertation topic will focus on the genetic basis of infection strategies that smut fungi use to infect their plant hosts.

Shikhi Baruri

PhD Student

Email: s0baru04@louisville.edu

Education: M.S Bioinformatics , INDIA

Dennis Doe

PhD

Pronouns: he/him/his

Email: dennis.doe@louisville.edu

Education: BSc. Laboratory Technology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Research Interests: My interest is in unraveling the intricate patterns of mitochondrial inheritance in smut fungi, shedding light on the fascinating mechanisms that govern the transmission of these organelles during sexual reproduction. I am also interested in antimicrobial resistance, exploring novel synthesized drugs to combat fungal infections.

David Grimm

PhD Student, GTA

david.grimm@louisville.edu

Education: Eastern Illinois University, Bachelor of Science

Research Interests: Biomimetic approaches to cell preservation.

Charles A. Elder

PhD Student

Pronouns: he/him/his

Email: charles.elder@louisville.edu

Education: BA in Biology and Psychology, University of Louisville

Research Interests: My primary research interests are in anhydrobiosis, biomolecular condensates, and biopreservation. I aim to learn mechanisms from organisms that can survive extreme stress and transfer them to stress-sensitive systems.

LinkedIn

Jesse Rozsa

PhD Candidate

Email: Jesserozsa@gmail.com

Education: Masters of Science Molecular Genetics, Certificate of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, B.S Biological Sciences

Lab: Running Lab 219

Research Interests: Plant genetics, Heterologous protein expression systems, and Plant Biochemistry.

Esiosa F. Eigbuluese

PhD

Pronouns: she/her

Email: sarah.fortner@louisville.edu

Education: BSc. Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Research Interests: Plant Developmental Biology, Plant Genetics

Kane Lawhorn

PhD Candidate; Research assistant

Email: kane.lawhorn@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Tennessee Knoxville

Research Interests: My research focuses on how arthropods respond to environmental disturbance. Specifically, I investigate the effects of lightning in Panama and prescribed fire in Kentucky. I take a community- and individual-level approach to quantify differences in arthropod composition, behavior, and physiology across a variety of taxa including beetles, ants, millipedes, and spiders.

Keywords: community ecology, disturbance ecology, arthropod ecology, forest entomology, natural history

Andrew Seiler

PhD Student

Email: andrew.seiler@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. in Biology, A.A. in Chemistry, Thomas More University

Research Interests: I am interested in the fall of arthropods from tree canopies (“arthropod rain”) and the fates of those fallen arthropods (climbing back to tree canopies, falling prey to other organisms, etc.). I will quantify the amount and composition of arthropod rain, then conduct elemental analyses of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. This will allow me to investigate the role arthropod rain plays in nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems.

Keywords: ecology, insect ecology, ants, arthropods, conservation, tropical, temperate, forest

Sarah Fortner

PhD

Pronouns: she/her

Email: sarah.fortner@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. Biological Sciences, Northern Kentucky University

Research Interests: I am interested in the ecology and behavior of temperate and tropical forest arthropods. I will investigate insect herbivory and web-building spider communities in lightning and windthrow canopy gaps in Panama. I also study the ecological factors that affect web-building behavior of forest-dwelling orb weaver spiders in Kentucky and Panama.

Emmy Delekta

PhD

Pronouns: she/her

Email: emmy.delekta@louisville.edu

Education: 

M.S. in Biology – West Liberty University (2021)

B.S. in Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology / Environmental Stewardship – West Liberty University (2019)

Research Interests: I am an astacologist interested in the evolutionary trends of crayfish and their conservation. My current research focuses on the relationship between crayfish morphology and their ecological roles, particularly burrowing behavior.

LinkedIn

Devya Hemraj-Naraine

PhD

Pronouns: she/her

Email: ddhemr01@louisville.edu

Education: M.S. University of Guyana

Research Interests: I focus on unraveling the complex dynamics within freshwater ecosystems and how they shape fish behavior, morphology, and ecology. A significant aspect of my work involves the emphasis on fish systematics, contributing to the classification and evolutionary comprehension of freshwater fish. This approach provides essential insights into biodiversity and plays a pivotal role in supporting conservation efforts.

LinkedIn

Sophia Anner

PhD Student/Graduate Fellow

Pronouns: she/her

Email: sophia.anner@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. Biology, University of Denver, 2020

Research Interests: I am interested in how natural and sexual selection pressures shape variation and divergence within and between populations. I am currently investigating the relative contributions of host use and geographic distance on courtship behavior, morphology, and phenology in several species of a fruit-infesting fly (Rhagoletis spp.).

Twitter: @sophiaanner

Shayna Rosenbloom Earl

PhD Candidate

Pronouns: she/her

Email: sdrose03@louisville.edu

Education: B.A. Biology from Washington University in St. Louis

Research Interests: 

I am interested in how organisms are responding to climate change. My dissertation research focuses on how spotted salamander growth, survival, and phenology are impacted by heat waves.

Olivia Weaver

PhD Student

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Email: olivia.weaver@louisville.edu

Education: B.S Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz

Research Intersests: I’m studying the intersection of kin recognition, mate choice and paedomorphosis in Ambytsomatid salamanders.

Noelle Visser

PhD Student

Pronouns: she/her

Email: noelle.visser@louisville.edu

Education: MSc Medical Mycology, University of Manchester UK; BS Human Biology, Indiana University      

Research Interests: I am interested in the microbiome of plants. Specifically, how fungal endophytes found within leaves and floral petals alter plant secondary metabolite chemistry and floral volatile composition and abundance.  

Emma Throneburg*

PhD Student

Pronouns: She/Her

Email: emma.throneburg@louisville.edu

Education: Bachelor of Science with Honors in Biology from Lenoir-Rhyne University

Research Interests: I am a biology education researcher and ecologist interested in understanding how to improve student persistence in science, particularly for students with historically excluded and currently underrepresented identities. I am currently working on how sociocultural background, mentorship, and collaboration influence the development of science identity within a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE).

X (Twitter): @EmmaThroneburg

*Co-advised by Dr. Christian and Dr. Pigg

Morghan McCool

PhD Student

Pronouns: she/her

Email: morghan.mccool@louisville.edu

Education: BS. Biology, University of Louisville

Research Interests: Bryophyte ecology, karst and cave ecology, population and community ecology, conservation and management, dispersal and functional ecology

Webpage: morghanmccool.com

Mubaraq Opoola

PhD Student

Email: mubaraq.opoola@louisville.edu

Education:

B. Agric. (Hons) Animal Science, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, 2015

M. Agric. Animal Biotechnology, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria, 2019.

Research Interests: Sleep, aging, feeding, and feeding behavior, circadian clock, Human disease model in Drosophila melanogaster.

Webpage: https://www.linkedin.com/in/opoola-mubaraq-a0b6b366/

Bre Beard

PhD Student

Pronouns:  they/she

Email: breanna.beard@louisville.edu

Education: BS Biology, Minor in English Literature, Bellarmine University

Research Interests: I am broadly interested in understanding how the circadian clock integrates with external stimuli to influence behavior and metabolism. Using the fruit fly as a model organism, my dissertation research seeks to answer how clock-output genes in peripheral tissues regulate feeding and the mechanisms through which the clock interacts with dietary cues to regulate organismal behavior and physiology.

Mallory Harmel

PhD Student

Pronouns:  she/her

Email: malloryharmel@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. in Biology from California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo

Research Interests: I am interested in wildlife ecology and the effects of fragmentation on population movements, community composition, and habitat use.  My current research focuses on tick and snake diversity in urban green spaces and human risk perception towards ticks and snakes.

Jared L. Scott

PhD Student

Pronouns: he/him

Email: jared.scott@louisville.edu

Education: B.S. Biology with minors in Plant Science and Chemistry, Indiana University Southeast 2016

Research Interests: I’m primarily interested in the discovery of novel medicines and other natural products that can be produced from plants. I currently study the Apiaceae (carrot) family’s antiproliferative effects on breast cancers, with a focus on ethanolic extracts of Cuminum cyminum (cumin) and other Apiaceae seeds used in traditional medicine and/or as culinarily spices.

LinkedIn

Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman

PhD Student

Pronouns: he/him/his

Email: m0rahm19@louisville.edu

Education:  M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

Research Interests: My research interest is in age-related changes in metabolism and their impact on stem cell niches. My current research focuses on the role of lipid accumulation in determining niche cell function and fate in fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

LinkedIn