Area of Study: Freshwater Community Ecology
Advisor: Dr. Laura Leff

My primary academic and research interests are freshwater community ecology and the effect of climate change and nutrient lodging on aquatic food webs.  My MS thesis focused on the effects of temperature on population growth rates for diataoms. I  hope to expand that as a doctoral student and look at how temperature and nutrient concentrations affect the composition of aquatic communities.  I am also interested in the ecological role of spatial structure within an environment, including habitat fragmentation, macrophyte-rich areas as refuges, and differences in benthic vs. planktonic algal communities.

Area of Study: Polar Climatology
Advisor: Dr. Scott Sheridan

I am a second year Ph.D. student with interests in climate variability and change, especially in the polar regions.  My current research is primarily concerned with evaluating the climatic causes and consequences of summer  sea ice decline in the Arctic.  I am particularly interested in how Arctic warming trends, largely attributable to sea ice loss, manifest in terms of weather patterns over the mid and high northern latitudes.

Area of Study: Biogeochemistry
Advisor: Dr. H. Dong

I am currently working on the remediation of heavy metal contamination (Tc, Cr, & TCE) and the factors controlling the immobilization of those heavy metals.  Such factor as the in situ stratigraphy, water table composition, microbial life present, and location of contamination to nearest potable water. Specifically, I am interested in which factors control the uptake of heavy

Area of Study:Geology, Surface Processes
Advisor: Dr. Joseph Ortiz

My current research has involved the measurement of plant pigments in an estuarine ecosystem (Old Woman Creek, northern Ohio) using a combination of in-situ measurements, visible/near-infrared derivative spectroscopy and visible fluorescence. Through this, I am attempting to separate out and identify the various taxa of phytoplankton, as well as determine any temporal changes in populations. This project has now expanded to include the western basin of Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay (both plagued by harmful algal blooms. particularly in the summertime), allowing for spatial variations to be considered as well. The derivative spectroscopy method I use for measuring plant pigments can also be used for geologic materials, such as minerals, sediments and clays, and has applications in paleoclimate reconstruction and global climate change.

Area of Study: Liquid Crystals
Advisor: Dr. R. Tweig

I am a second year graduate student at Kent State University.  I work with Dr. Twieg in a joint physics/chemistry project on bent-core liquid crystals. I hope that the IGERT program will make me a more well-rounded person and researcher and help me decide on my career choice post-graduate school.

Area of Study: Limnology,UV-radiation
Advisor: Dr. C. Williamson

My research interests are centered on the effect of climate change on lake ecosystems. I am specifically interested in how changes in lake transparency affect zooplankton migrations. The EARS-IGERT program will provide a great opportunity to learn more about using sensors to study these changes and develop new technology to provide indicators of climate change.

David Davis
Kent State University
Email: ddavis69@kent.edu

Valerie Finnemeyer
Kent State University
Email: vfinneme@kent.edu

Area of Study: Liquid Crystals
Advisor: Dr. R. Tweig

I am currently working on materials synthesis of bent-core liquid crystals looking for biaxial nematic behavior. I hope the IGERT program helps my education to become more well-rounded and that my research helps the program in the development of better sensor technology.

Area of Study: Ecology
Advisor: dr. David Berg

I am a doctoral student in Dr. David Berg’s lab at Miami University of Ohio.  I received my undergraduate degree from Ball State University and my Master’s at the University of Texas at Tyler.  My general research interests include ecology, evolution, and conservation.

Area of Study: Chemical Physics
Advisor: Dr. A. Jakli

Margaret Gaglione
Kent State University
Email: mgaglio2@kent.edu

Area of Study: Microbial Ecology
Advisor: Dr. Annette Bollmann

My research interests include the ecophysiology of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea, with a focus on factors that influence niche differentiation among and between these two groups.  My previous research in this field has included laboratory-based growth experiments with ammonia-oxidizing bacteria ammonia-oxidizing archaea enriched from freshwater lakes in the Netherlands and Ohio. I am planning to further the work that I started by transplanting the enrichment cultures in lake Acton in dialysis tubing, which will allow diffusion of nutrients into the tubes while keeping the cells contained.  By combining these data with data collected from sensors in the lake, I hope to be able to correlate environmental conditions with ammonia-oxidizer growth to further our understanding of factors that affect niche differentiation between these two groups of phylogenetically distinct microorganisms. 

Area of Study: Microbial Ecology
Advisor: Dr. L. Leff

Area of Study: Aquatic Ecology
Advisor: Dr. Laura Leff

My research interests are best addressed by the following questions: How do freshwater microbial communities recover from rapid ecosystem alterations? Given the functional redundancy of bacteria within these systems, how do post-disturbance conditions influence niche differentiation amongst functionally redundant, as well as facultative, taxa? How does this differ across ecosystem boundaries (ecotones) and environmental gradients? Through this research, I hope to not only elucidate microbial responses to dramatic and abrupt environmental changes, but also to inform natural resource decision making and policy development.

Area of Study: Insect Behavior
Advisor: Dr. Patrick Lorch

My academic interests consist of insect behavior broadly.  Most recently, I've been working on understanding how insects' visual perception of the world around them influences their behavior.  I am continually seeking out ways to integrate technology and mathematics into my research; for instance, in the past I've used computer vision techniques to automatically track insect movements in the lab.  Until recently, I have been working for a company which develops and sells insect pest traps under the brand name RESCUE.  During my time with RESCUE, I have worked out colors for traps which would maximize catch efficiency for the target insects.

Area of Study: Aquatic Ecology, Biogeochemistry
Advisor: Dr. M. Vanni

I am broadly interested in the effects of anthropogenic activities on freshwater ecosystems. My research focuses on the influence of changing watershed land use on ecosystem function and community structure within reservoirs. I am especially interested in the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and ratios on cyanobacteria biomass, cyanotoxin production (specifically microcystin and anatoxin) and nitrogen fixation. I am addressing these questions by completing a multi-year, multi-reservoir survey to examine how agriculture and climate change (changing precipitation patterns) affect nutrient cycling and phytoplankton communities. I am also using a mesocosm experiment to isolate the mechanisms driving cyanobacteria dominance and nitrogen cycling within an aquatic food web. I am interested in using sensors to identify fine-scale changes in phytoplankton community.

Area of Study: Liquid Crystals
Advisor: Dr. Deng-ke Yang

My interests are liquid crystal/polymer composites and I hope to create liquid crystal elastomers to be used in environmental sensing and detection.

Area of Study: Wetland Ecology
Advisor: Dr. F. de Salazy

My current research will focus on the bioacoustics of wetland invertebrate insects. I am most interested in the impact that sound pollution/human created sound has on the creation and perception of invertebrate sound.  Since most of these sounds are produced as part of the mating cycle.  I am also interested in the impact the disruption of invertebrate sound might have on their populations.

Area of Study: Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Ecology
Advisor: Dr. F. de Salazy

Area of Study: Microbial Ecology
Advisor: Dr. L. Leff

My research involves chemical and microbiological examination of contaminated river sediments. I am specifically interested in anaerobic degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

Area of Study: Nanobiotechnology
Advisor: Dr. Qi-Huo Wei

Area of Study: Ecosystem and organism responses to global climate change.
Advisor: Dr. C. Williamson

My research interests are related to the direct and indirect impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functions, organismal responses, and our ability to observe and record these changes.  My interest in the IGERT EARS program stems from the unique opportunity to learn in an atmosphere that integrates science, business, and technology.  I feel that my experience in climate change research from both an academic and federal standpoint will be able to contribute expertise that incorporates both viewpoints.

Area of Study: nanophotonics, micro/nanofluidics, and soft condensed matter physics
Advisor: Dr. Qi-Huo Wei

My research interests mostly lie in the nano- to micron-dimension length scale. I am interested in the light-matter interactions that occur in plasmonic metamaterials and how they may be used as spatial light modulators. Beyond light-matter interactions, I am interested in nanofluidics which is an area that looks at fluid behaviors at the nanometer scale. In addition, I am interested in various research topics in soft condensed matter such as brownian motion of micron sized objects.

Kevin Rose
Miami University
Email: rosekc@muohio.edu

Area of Study: Aquatic Microbiology
Advisor: Dr. Laura Leff

My research interest involves metal resistance in microbiological communities of freshwater ecosystems. I am specifically interested in understanding how metal contamination in freshwater systems influences metal resistance in microbial biofilm communities, and in turn, understanding the structural and functional responses of these communities to this perturbation.

Area of Study: Limnology, carbon cycling, materials science and engineering.
Advisor: Dr. C. Williamson

My dissertation research involves understanding and developing indicators of allochthony in lakes.  Simply put, I am trying to understand how much lakes are supported by the surrounding terrestrial landscape and I’m trying to develop new tools to quantify the amount of support from terrestrial vs. aquatic energy. My interests are in developing new sensor technology to quantify carbon fluxes into and through aquatic ecosystems.

Area of Study: Limnoecology
Advisor: Dr. Darren Bade

I am specifically interested in the Great Lakes environment and aquatic ecology in general. My academic interests are harmful algal blooms in eutrophic lakes.  My goal is to become a professor in ecology and environmental ecology.

Susanna Scott
Miami University
Email: scottse3@muohio.edu

David Widner
Kent State University
Email: dwidner@kent.edu

Area of Study: Abiotic influences on ecosystem function.
Advisor:

I am interested in studying the short term effects of storm events on lake metabolism.

Area of Study: Freshwater Systems
Advisor: Dr. Laura Leff

Area of Study: Environmental Geography
Advisor: Dr. M. Munro-Stasiuk

I am interested in fresh water remediation and am particularly concerned about stream quality and the promotion and preservation of riparian corridors. My main research interests focus on monitoring the water quality of streams and in educating individuals who impact those streams. Specifically, I am interested in finding ways to improve the ecology and overall quality of the Sugar Creek Watershed in Ohio. My research will include the creation of a Watershed Management Plan specifically tailored for the problems associated with the primitive farming practices of the Old Order Amish

Back to EARS Home