University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

EEB is excited to announce the 2012 Ph.D. and master’s student cohorts. There are eight doctoral students and eight master’s students joining EEB in the fall.

"The three graduate programs in EEB (doctoral, traditional master’s, Frontiers master’s) are absolutely fundamental to the mission of the department," said Mark Hunter, Henry A. Gleason Collegiate Professor and acting chair of EEB. "It's wonderful to see a new cohort of students of such high quality joining the department. It's through students like these that EEB is able to maintain excellence in research, teaching and outreach."

Joining the Ph.D. program this fall are (list includes name, advisor, previous institution, research interest): Cindy Bick, Professor Diarmaid Ó Foighil, Frontiers master’s student, University of Michigan (EEB), molecular evolution, adaptive phenotypes; Dylan Grippi, Professor Meghan Duffy, Georgia Institute of Technology, disease ecology and evolution; Pamela Martinez Vargas, Professor Mercedes Pascual, Universidad Chile, phylodynamics of pathogens; Celia Miller, Professors Brad Cardinale and Mark Hunter, University of Alaska Fairbanks, niche conservatism, invasive species, dispersal evolution; Marian Schmidt, Professor Vincent Denef, Hampshire College, microbial communities and their evolution; Jeff Shi, Professors Catherine Badgley and Dan Rabosky, Duke University, broad-scale patterns of diversification, interspecific and ecological interactions; Andrew Strayer, Professors Aaron King and Mercedes Pascual, University of Chicago, population dynamics; Pascal Title, Professor Dan Rabosky, San Diego State University, niche modeling, spatial analysis, diversification parameters in different climate zones, herpetology.

The Frontiers master’s cohort includes: Clarisse Betancourt, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, climatic change, global warming, application of remote sensing and GIS for resource management; Omar Bonilla, Universidad Metropolitana, bird-plant ecology, biodiversity; Buck Castillo, University of Michigan, terrestrial ecology, root dynamics of a temperate forest ecosystem; Naim Edwards, Morehouse College, dynamics of biodiversity in farming systems; Lizette Ramirez, University of Michigan, invertebrate biodiversity in the Neotropics. Advisors are to be determined.

The traditional master’s cohort includes: Kevin Bakker, Professor Pej Rohani, Michigan State University, disease ecology, population ecology, mathematical modeling; Lisa Walsh, Professor Priscilla Tucker, Birmingham Southern College, genetic viability of critical species, assessing the biodiversity and health of the ecosystem; Benjamin Miller, Professor George Kling, Bowdoin College, biogeochemical research in the Arctic.

Image: Fox kit taken in Alaska by current graduate student Jason Dobkowski.