Graduate Student Research Highlights
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Matt Cooper studied community metabolism (primary production and respiration) in coastal wetlands of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron while in Dr. Don Uzarski and Dr. Alan Steinman's labs. Matt is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Notre Dame.
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Garry Sanders worked with Bopi Biddanda to study the benthic and planktonic communities surrounding recently discovered submerged groundwater vents in Lake Huron. Garry currently works for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Fish Habitat program in La Grande, Oregon. |
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Jennifer Cymbola Gray completed her MS degree in Dr. Alan Steinman's lab, where she studied the response of phytoplankton to the interaction light and phosphorus released from lake sediments. Jennifer is currently an adjunct instructor of Biology at Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. |
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Dana (VanHaitsma) Strouse studied predation behavior of yellow perch in Dr. Carl Ruetz's lab, documenting their selective consumption of native fishes over the invasive round goby. Dana is currently a staff biologist at Golder Associates in Lansing, Michigan. |
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Keto Gyekis evaluated effects of Great Lakes coastal wetland fragmentation on zooplankton, macroinvertebrate, and larval fish communities while in Dr. Don Uzarski's lab. Keto is now working for King and MacGregor Environmental in Grand Rapids, Michigan. |
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Aaron Parker completed his MS degree in Dr. Don Uzarski's lab, where he studied phenotypic plasticity of yellow perch related to feeding ecology. Aaron is currently working at Florida International University, on a number of projects in the Everglades. |
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Janel Hagar earned her MS degree in Dr. Rick Rediske's lab. She used three different techniques to detect and quantify microcystin concentration and related her results to environmental parameters in 2 west Michigan lakes. Janel is currently enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Science Ph.D. program at the University of South Carolina. |
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Matt Breen completed his MS degree in Dr. Carl Ruetz's lab, studying the movement, habitat use, and foraging of mottled sculpins in a coldwater stream. Matt is currently a fish biologist with the Utah Department of Natural Resources. |
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Elaine Sterrett Isely investigated the current use of the Michigan Natural Rivers Act as a river protection mechanism and provided new tools and information to encourage multi-jurisdictional land use planning and river protection. Elaine is now a research associate at AWRI, where she works in Dr. Alan Steinman's lab on natural resource/environmental policy issues. |
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Kristin Nelson studied the distribution of zebra and quagga mussels in coastal areas of the Great Lakes in Dr. Carl Ruetz's lab, documenting the resistance of drowned river mouth wetlands to colonization by these dreissenid mussels. Kristin is currently a Huron Pines AmeriCorp member serving the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited as a monitoring specialist in Lansing, Michigan. |
