Dr. Sheila Kitchen joined the EEB program Fall 2024. She is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston in the Department of Marine Biology. As a trained molecular ecologist, she integrates field, laboratory and computational tools to address fundamental questions surrounding interspecies interactions and their persistence under climate change. Her goal is to transform these results into applied solutions for conservation. Her lab’s research is primarily focused on cnidarian (corals, sea anemones and jellyfish) – algal symbiosis and innate immunity of invertebrates. She is an active member of the Caribbean Coral Restoration Genetics Working Group as part of the Coral Restoration Consortium.
Spotlight: Chris Butler
Dr. Chris Butler joined the TAMU Biology Department in 2022 as an Instructional Associate Professor and the EEB program Fall 2023. His current research is twofold: (1) exploring the ecology, conservation, and management of secretive marsh birds; and (2) modeling the effects of climate change on the distribution, phenology, and survivorship of a variety of different organisms. His secretive marsh bird research focuses primarily on the federally threatened Eastern Black Rail and the rare Yellow Rail exploring how grazing, prescribed burns, and other management techniques may help maintain or create suitable habitat for these species. His climate change modeling research has been conducted on a variety of vertebrates (e.g., migratory birds, alligator gar), plants (e.g., palms and cacti), parasites (e.g., Angiostrongylus), and others to explore how climate change may affect survivorship, phenology, and distribution of these organisms.
