Tristan Price
Faculty Advisor: John Halstead
Research Topic: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Email: tristan.price@unh.edu
Research Description: I am currently surveying NH residents who primarily use a municipal water supply for their drinking water on their awareness, risk assessment, and willingness-to-pay for treatment of PFAS chemicals in those drinking water systems.
Natalie Lord
Faculty Advisor: Catherine Ashcraft
Research Topic: Social equity and sustainable marine food systems
Email: natalie.lord@unh.edu
Research Description: Women make up half the workers in the global seafood supply chain and engage in all sectors of the marine food system from production to market. However, their roles in the fisheries and aquaculture sector are poorly understood and have largely been unaccounted for, which may have pervasive impacts on opportunities for social and economic progress for women in the field. My research aims to (1) share stories about women’s experiences as oyster producers in the aquaculture sector, (2) identify institutional barriers and opportunities for women to work as producers, (3) make recommendations for gender integration into aquaculture policy. As the aquaculture industries of NH and ME are poised for further expansion, now is the time to build an equitable marine food system!
Sarah Reny
Faculty Advisor: Russell Congalton
Research Topic: Remote Sensing of the Environment
Email: sarah.reny@unh.edu
Research Description: Applying remote sensing technology to environmental data acquisition, and spatial data accuracy.
Kaitlyn Baillargeon
Advisor: Scott Ollinger
Research Topic: Estimating forest biodiversity using remote sensing imagery
Email: kaitlyn.baillargeon@unh.edu
Amy Arsenault
Faculty Advisor: Mark Ducey
Research Topic: Outreach and engagement of nonindustrial private forest landowners
Email: amy.arsenault@unh.edu
Research Description: New Hampshire nonindustrial private forest landowners oversee 73% of the state’s forests, and the decisions made by these majority stakeholders have an enormous impact. As part of my work as the Forest Stewardship Outreach Program Manager for UNH Cooperative Extension, I am interested in studying outreach and engagement strategies to help landowners make informed decisions about their woodlots.
Keegan Feero
Faculty Advisor: Scott Ollinger
Research Topic: Linking forest landscape and physiological process models to wildlife conservation.
Email: keegan.feero@unh.edu
Research Description: With climate change, places which used to be optimal habitat for a wide variety of species has been shifting over time. Conserving and protecting habitat of native species (specifically those which are migratory, threatened, or endangered) is of special concern. I seek to model how wildlife habitat shifts in response to these changing climatic variables so we can provide the necessary management/intervention wherever needed before it is too late.
Joshua Buonpane
Faculty Advisor: Wilfred Wollheim
Email: joshua.buonpane@grad.unh.edu
Chris Ziadeh
Faculty Advisor: Jeff Garnas
Research Topic: The change in insect communities between different silvicultural treatments and among seasons.
Email: christopher.ziadeh@unh.edu
Research Description: My research examines the impact of different silvicultural treatments on ground-active insect communities and how these same communities change throughout various seasons. I collect insects using pitfall traps during both the winter and late summer in a research site called the Second College Grant which is located in northern NH
Emily Landry
Faculty Advisor: Scott Ollinger and Alix Contosta
Research Topic: Forest Ecosystems
Email: emily.landry@unh.edu
Christine Bunyon
Faculty Advisor: Russell Congalton
Research Topic: The use of unmanned aerial systems to evaluate the extent of submerged aquatic vegetation and algae in impaired waterbodies.
Email: christine.bunyon@unh.edu
Research Description: Studying the use of an unmanned aerial system equipped with a multispectral camera to assess and monitor the concentration and dynamics of algal and cyanobacteria blooms in New Hampshire lakes.
Talia Kuras
Faculty Advisor: Adrienne Kovach
Research Topic: Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows
Email: talia.kuras@unh.edu
Research Description: I am broadly interested in topics related to saltmarsh sparrow paternity, mate choice, and hybridization with closely related Nelson’s sparrows at study sites in southern Maine and coastal New Hampshire.
Hayleigh Hildebrand
Faculty Advisor: Stuart Grandy
Research Topic: Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows
Email: hayleigh.hildebrand@unh.edu
Research Description: My project's goal is to better understand nutrient (specially nitrogen) dynamics at the micro-scale in soil fractions such as particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral associated organic matter (MAOM) under different treatments such as fertilizer input, soil type and texture to better understand how to steward agricultural land more sustainably.
Emily Lever
Faculty Advisor: Wilfred Wollheim
Research Topic: The role of flow conditions and storm regimes on plastic fluxes through river networks.
Email: emily.lever@unh.edu
Mairi Poisson
Faculty Advisor: Rem Moll
Research Topic: Dynamics of carnivore-mesocarnivore interactions, human-wildlife interactions and conflict.
Email: mairi.poisson@unh.edu
Research Description: I am broadly interested in carnivore-mesocarnivore interactions and human-wildlife interactions. I will be utilizing camera trap data throughout New Hampshire to better understand these dynamics and their potential implications for wildlife management.
Michael Thompson
Faculty Advisor: Rebecca Rowe
Research Topic: Avian functional diversity across an economic forest degradation gradient.
Email: m.thompson@unh.edu
Research Description: My work looks at how avian functional diversity changes across forests that have a decreasing economic value based on the degradation framework put forth by Gunn et al 2019.
David Heit
Faculty Advisor: Remington Moll
Research Topic: Quantitative spatial ecology of ungulates
Email: david.heit@unh.edu
Research Description: I am investigating how the selection of spatial and temporal scale affects analyses of white-tailed deer behavior and habitat selection.