Grad Students
Franziska Sandmeier, Ph.D.
Postdoc, Department of Biology
I am interested in ecological and comparative immunology as well as disease ecology of vertebrates particularly as these pertain to conservation biology. I am interested in diseases with relatively complex etiologies (e.g., respiratory tract disease in tortoises, chytridiomycosis and limb deformities in amphibians, etc.). I have focused on hypotheses of extrinsic factors (e.g., season, climate, heterogeneity of habitat, etc.) and intrinsic factors (e.g., gender, thermal strategy, metabolic rates, phylogeny, etc.) affect the evolution of host immune systems, the prevalence and virulence of pathogens, and host-pathogen dynamics. I prefer research with broad implications to ecological and evolutionary theory of infectious diseases with implications to the maintenance of biodiversity to health of human populations
Nichole Maloney
Masters, Department of Biology
Lee Lemenager
Masters, Department of Biology
Stephanie Wakeling
MS Student, Department of Biology
My Master’s work is focused on homing abilities of chuckwallas, Sauromalus ater. I am interested in all kinds of animal movements, including long and short distance dispersal, range shifts and expansions, and implications for translocation studies. I am broadly interested in how ecological science and other fields can be united to create solutions for conservation, and the impacts of those solutions. I plan to continue research to understand relationships of animal movement and population dynamics, and I have a special interest in the potential impacts of global climate change on those processes and relationships.
Sarah Snyder
PhD Student, Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology
Originally from Pittsburgh, I was an undergraduate at Unity College in Maine, and now I split my time between attending and teaching classes at UNR and conducting field research in southern Nevada. I study the thermal consequences of burned habitat to the threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).
John Gray
Laboratory Assistant, Animal Care Technician, Boat Captain, etc.
2011 - 2014 Alums
Elia Pirtle
Currently a PhD student at the University of Melbourne
Kelly Horn
Undergraduate Thesis - disease ecology of desert tortoise
Michelle Gordon
MS Student, Biology
Studying new species of Great Basin toads
Undergraduate Students
Jenny Todd
MS Student, Biology
I am studying the ways in which populations of chuckwalla lizards can avoid extinction in the face of climate change. The implications of this research include creating a new paradigm of how research on the negative effects of climate change can be investigated using solid science.