Graduate Student Profiles

Advisor: Jess Ernakovich
Research Topic: Microbial Community Assembly & Dynamics under Climate Change-Induced Disturbances in Arctic Permafrost
Email: Adeena.Ahsan@unh.edu
Research Description: My research focuses on studying the microbial community dynamics in the thawing permafrost to better understand the ecological and evolutionary drivers shaping microbial community assembly and decomposition functional capabilities and combines wet lab techniques with bioinformatics to analyze microbial communities. 

Advisor: Serita Frey
Research Topic: Impact of long-term disturbances on soil microbial resilience
Email: Gretchen.Bahmueller@unh.edu
Research Description: My research focuses on understanding the impact of long-term disturbances on soil microbial resilience and how long-term disturbances affect microorganism's ability to be resilient in the face of additional stress. With a background in sustainable agriculture and food systems, I am interested in soil microorganisms and their importance in sustainable agricultural systems.

Advisor: Russell Congalton
Research Topic: Remote Sensing, Forest Health, and Landscape Ecology
Email: Molly.Cahill@unh.edu
Research Description: My research uses remotely sensed satellite imagery to examine the decline in hemlock woolly adelgid-infested eastern hemlock stands in New Hampshire from 2000 to 2022.

Advisor: Rich Smith
Research Topic: Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agricultural Ecosystems
Email: Kayleigh.Hummel@unh.edu
Research Description: Forthcoming

Advisor: Adam Wymore
Research Topic: Watershed dynamics and climate change
Email: Morgubatul.Jannat@unh.edu
Research Description: My research focuses on understanding the complex interactions between watershed processes and climate change, particularly how forests, landscapes, and climatic variations influence water quality. By utilizing long-term datasets spanning tropical to temperate regions, the study will examine key water quality parameters such as discharge, nutrients, sediments and dissolved organic matter. The research leverages data from various hydrological observatories equipped with continuous monitoring systems. This study aims to reveal patterns in watershed responses to changing environmental conditions and contribute to sustainable water resource management under future climate scenarios.

Advisor: Teresa Cohn & Heidi Asbjornsen
Research Topic: Indigenous Cultural Geography & Agroforestry
Email: Geneva.Lish@unh.edu
Research Description: Gigi is a part of two research projects, the first of which is understanding management priorities and indigenous considerations regarding Atlantic White Cedar Swamps in order to inform a management plan for the Bradford Bog in New Hampshire. For the second project, Gigi is part of a co-design process to create climate-resilient agroforestry systems for the Northeast US.

Advisor: Bill McDowell
Topic: Climate & Land Use Interactions on Freshwater Salinization
Email: Dylan.Smith@unh.edu
Research Description: My research focuses on interactions that may result in freshwater salinization. By using land use and weather data, my aim is to establish a relationship between freeze-thaw cycles, precipitation, and impervious surface impacts on freshwater environments during the winter seasons. By conducting this research, I hope to inform future development decisions and road salt practices to minimize impacts on these watersheds.

Advisor: Adam Wymore
Topic: Greenhouse Gas Production in Coastal New Hampshire Streams along a Rural Gradient
Email: Amanda.Theall@unh.edu
Research Description: Forthcoming

Advisor: Shannon Rogers
Research Topic: Environmental Volunteering
Email: Charlotte.Thompson@unh.edu
Research Description: Environmental volunteers are essential to effective management of conservation land in the United States. Nature Groupie, a project of UNH Extension, is an online event calendar that any organization in NH and beyond can use to recruit volunteers. Organizations share their volunteer events to the website and prospective volunteers receive a weekly newsletter highlighting upcoming events. Since 2014, there have been over 11,000 volunteer sign-ups through the website across over 400 different organizations. My research will use this data set of volunteers and events provides to understand patterns in volunteer behavior and effective volunteer recruitment strategies at a broad scale.

Advisor: Heidi Asbjornsen
Research Topic: Fire and Oak Regeneration
Email: Khanh.Ton@unh.edu
Research Description: Northern red oak (Quercus rubra) is of commercial value and provides many ecosystem services in the northeast. As climate change expands its native range further north, a need to promote its establishment and recruitment arises. My work will investigate the role of fire in managing this species near its northern range limit through a combination of tree-ring analysis, an observational study of prescribed burn sites, and a potted seedling experiment.

Advisor: Serita Frey
Research Topic: Tuberculate ectomycorrhiza of Quercus rubra under warming soils.
Email: Andre.Chiang@unh.edu
Research Description: My research is focused around developing an understanding of functionality and frequency of Tuberculate Ectomycorrhiza (TECM) of Quercus rubra within the context of simulated climatic warming. TECM are spherical aggregations of fine roots that are colonized by ectomycorrhizal fungi, typically occurring within the organic horizon of soil.

Advisor: Adam Wymore
Research Topic: Spatial variation in nitrogen wet deposition
Email: Paola.MiramontesGonzalez@unh.edu
Research Description: My research focuses on studying spatial variability in nitrogen compounds from the atmosphere that are deposited to the Earth's surface through precipitation. Understanding nitrogen wet deposition is crucial for managing its impacts on terrestrial and aquatic environments, especially in the context of changing atmospheric nitrogen levels due to human activities and climate change.

Advisor: Jeff Garnas
Research Topic: American Beech and Beech Bark Disease (BBD)
Email: Erin.Reilly1@unh.edu
Research Description: I am studying the effectiveness of induced methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid pathway responses in limiting the establishment of BBD. In addition, I am looking into how the timing of fungal inoculation impacts lesion size as well as the function of beech scale shelters used in an artificial establishment.

Advisor: Rem Moll
Research Topic: Wildlife connectivity and its relationship to vehicle collisions
Email: Clara.Dawson@unh.edu
Research Description: In collaboration with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, I am using habitat connectivity models and camera traps to ground-truth wildlife-vehicle collision "hotspots" across New Hampshire.

Advisor: Rem Moll
Research Topic: Investigating Novel Monitoring Techniques for the N.H. Moose Population
Email: Lily.Hall@unh.edu
Research Description: As a collaborative project with the NH Fish & Game Department, I am using a camera trap grid and thermal imaging from drones (UASs) to model spatially explicit density estimates for the moose population across New Hampshire.

Advisor: Remington Moll
Research Topic: White-tailed deer survival and moose population demographics.
Email: Sarah.Richard@unh.edu
Research Description: In collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Boone and Crockett Club, my research focuses on white-tailed deer fawn survival across behavioral periods in Missouri. I am also estimating cow;calf ratios of moose in New Hampshire using trail cameras. In these projects, I am analyzing large datasets (~400 GPS collared deer; 250 camera traps) to examine landscape features affecting the survival, distribution, and reproductive success of these ungulates.