Graduate Student Profiles

Adeena Ahsan
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.
 

Molly Cahill
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.

Amy Gaudreau
Advisor: Mark Ducey
Research Topic: Needs Assessment Approach to Understanding Women Forestland Owners and Managers in New Hampshire
Email: amy.gaudreau@unh.edu
Research Description: Women in the Woods aims to connect women forest landowners, managers, and stewards with the resources, skills, and community they need to make informed stewardship decisions that promote healthy forest resources.

Emily Landry
Advisors: Alexandra Contosa & Scott Ollinger
Research Topic: Climate Patterns of the Northeast
Email: emily.landry@unh.edu
Research Description: I'm looking at how climate gradients across the Northeast's latitude, longitude, and elevation have changed by comparing simple models using climate normals from 1951/1980 and 1991/2020.

Gigi Lish
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.

Dylan Smith
Advisor: Bill McDowell
Topic: Climate & Land Use Interactions on Freshwater Salinization
Email: djs1090@usnh.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.

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

Charlotte Thompson
Advisor: Shannon Rogers
Research Topic: Accessibility of Trail Information in New Hampshire
Email: charlotte.thompson@unh.edu
Research Description: I’m interested in increasing the accessibility of trails in N.H. I am exploring projects to collaborate with disability organizations to develop new best practices for communicating trail information.

Khanh Ton
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.

Joshua Trombley
Advisor: Serita Frey
Research Topic: Fungal Evolution in Response to Chronic Soil Warming
Email: joshua.trombley@unh.edu
Research Description: Josh is interested in examining how long-term soil warming drives evolutionary processes and changes in community dynamics in soil fungi, with special focus on how soil warming impacts fungal genes associated with decomposition and C dynamics.

Lauren White
Advisor: David Burdick
Research Topic: Reducing Road Mortality of the Endangered Blanding’s Turtle
Email: lauren.white1@unh.edu
Research Description: Focuses on reducing road mortality of Blanding's Turtles, an endangered freshwater turtle located in southeast New Hampshire. These turtles live predominantly in wetlands but migrate through uplands and must often cross in areas where they are at risk for road mortality. Our goal is to create eco-passages by restoring or replacing existing hydraulic culverts that connect their resident wetlands. I'm broadly interested in wildlife conservation, migration, and promoting habitat connectivity.

Pax Bakke
Advisor: Jessica Ernakovich
Research Topic: Microbial Community Composition and Activity in Permafrost Soils
Email: pax.bakke@unh.edu
Research Description: I study how microbial communities in permafrost from the North Slope of Alaska respond to change along different environmental gradients. Specifically, I investigate how microbial community composition and activity change along the vertical gradient of depth in the soil and the horizontal gradient of time since deglaciation. 

Alicia Dixon
Advisor: Bill McDowell
Research Topic: Biogeochemical Responses to Disturbance Events in a Puerto Rico Freshwater Ecosystem
Email: alicia.dixon@unh.edu
Research Description: Looking at stream metabolism, carbon cycling, and leaf litter leachate in response to severe hurricanes and droughts at a headwater stream in the Luquillo Experimental Forest.

Cat Taylor
Advisor: John Halstead
Research Topic: Impacts of PFAS Contamination in N.H. Municipal Water Supplies on Housing Prices
Email: catherine.taylor@unh.edu 
Research Description: Researches the hedonic price method used in environmental economics to measure the market impacts of private well contamination of PFAs on property values across Southern N.H.

Erin Reilly
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.

Clara Dawson
Advisor: Rem Moll
Research Topic: Issues Related to Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions and Habitat Connectivity
Email: clara.dawson@unh.edu
Research Description: Forthcoming

Lily Hall
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.

Talia Kuras

Advisor: Adrienne Kovach
Research Topic: Drivers of Paternity in Saltmarsh Sparrows
Email: talia.kuras@unh.edu
Research Description: Saltmarsh sparrows are a highly promiscuous, polygynandrous passerine species. I'm interested in how time within their breeding season, space use, and genetic factors impact rates of paternity in male saltmarsh sparrows.

Mary Kathleen Lisi
Advisor: Rebecca Rowe
Research Topic: Arctic Small Mammal Diet Variability over Space & Time
Email: markathleen.lisi@unh.edu
Research Description: I am using stable isotope analysis to characterize the tundra vole's (Microtus oeconomus) diet, particularly investigating how stable the diet is over space and time.
 

Maeve Kelley
Advisor: Rebecca Rowe
Research Topic: Blanding's Turtle Conservation
Email: maeve.kelley@unh.edu
Research Description: Forthcoming

Grace McCulloch
Advisor: Adrienne Kovach
Research Topic: Characterizing Saltmarsh Sparrow Habitat to Inform Salt Marsh Restoration
Email: grace.mcculloch@unh.edu
Research Description: I examine the factors that predict tidal marsh bird occupancy, relative abundance, and nest locations in NH, with a focus on the threatened saltmarsh sparrow.  By modeling informative covariates, I will ground Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserves with the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture’s Saltmarsh Sparrow Habitat Prioritization Tools and identify opportunities for improvement. I am passionate about working with wildlife managers to find practical conservation solutions while creating opportunities to connect the public with science and their community’s wildlife.

Mairi Poisson
Advisor: Rem Moll
Research Topic: Impacts of Human Development on Wildlife
Email: mairi.poisson@unh.edu
Research Description: I research how various wildlife species respond to human development. Utilizing camera traps to detect species in Southern N.H., I explore shifting activity levels and patterns between rural and exurban areas. I also examine the methods which define "urbanization" and how we select habitat features for measuring impacts on wildlife. 

Michael Thompson
Advisor: Rebecca Rowe
Research Topic: Function Diversity in Degraded Forests
Email: m.thompson@unh.edu
Research Description: Across New England, past cutting practices have altered the forested landscape resulting in forest stands that now hold much less timber value. How these low value stands impact ecosystem functions provided by birds and other animals is still unknown. Mike is currently working on understanding the relationship between avian functional diversity and these economically degraded forests.