Erin Buchholtz is a 3rd year PhD student whose research interests broadly include ecology and conservation biology. She received her Bachelor’s degree with honors in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University. Erin came to Texas A&M as an NSF-IGERT Fellow through the Applied Biodiversity Program and she is now conducting her doctoral research in Botswana as a PhD Fellow with the Ecoexist Project.
Spotlight: Aleyda Galan
Update: Congratulations to Aleyda on successfully defending her master’s thesis!
Aleyda Galan is a 3rd year MS student and she is working on a biodiversity assessment of South Texas through the East Foundation. She will be examining mammalian, ectoparasite, and pathogen diversity across habitat types and East Foundation properties. To complete this work, Aleyda is spending lots of time in the field, laboratory, BRTC collections, and becoming an expert with ArcGIS.
Spotlight: Alyson Brokaw
ALYSON BROKAW is a 2nd year PhD student in the Smotherman bat lab (Biology Dept). Before coming to Texas A&M, Alyson earned a Master’s degree researching bat social calls and communication at Humboldt State University. She is interested in sensory ecology and social behavior in bats, focusing on acoustic and olfactory social signals. Alyson also tweets like a bat on Twitter.
Alyson is a recipient of a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant from the American Museum of Natural History to study Stunira lilium in Mexico.
Spotlight: Jessica Yorzinski
Jessica Yorzinski is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. Her research focuses on sensory ecology and animal behavior, with an emphasis on sexual selection and antipredator defenses. She received her B.S. from Cornell University in Neurobiology & Behavior and Ph.D. from UC Davis in Animal Behavior. She completed postdoctoral positions at Duke University and Purdue University. Visit Dr. Yorzinski’s website.
Spotlight: Jason Martina
Welcome Jason Martina, EEB’s new coordinator of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Doctoral Program and Applied Biodiversity Science Program.
Jason earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior working on the impacts of plant invasion on carbon and nitrogen cycling in Michigan wetlands. Read more about Jason here.
