Graduate Students

JULIA OWEN

PhD Candidate: landscape genetics of spotted skunks

TAYLOR DAVIS

MSc student: California Elk genetics

TALI CASPI

ANDREA BROAD

PhD Candidate: Black-tailed Deer in the North Coast range of California

MONICA SERRANO

 

GRACE ROSBURG-FRANCOT

MSc student: carnivore diet metabarcoding

CASS RODRIGUEZ

Joining the MECU fall 2022!

Current Scholars

MECU POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLARS

Dr. Sophie Preckler-Quisquater (2022–present)

Dr. Josh Hallas (2022–present)

Dr. Cate Quinn (2018–present)

 

VISITING SCHOLARS

Dr. Javier Monzon (Sabbatical 2022-present, Pepperdine University Natural Science Division, Seaver College)

 

GRADUATE STUDENT COLLABORATORS

Kristyn Schulte (MS, California State University, Sacramento) – Genetic analyses of ringtails in Northern California (2018-present)

Past Students and Scholars

MECU GRADUATE STUDENTS

Lauren Hennelly (PhD, 2022) – Divergence, selection, and demographic history of wolves in Eurasia using genomic data

Sophie Preckler-Quisquater (PhD, 2022) – Genomic Analysis Divergence and Secondary Contact in Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Gray Foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)

Cody Aylward (PhD, 2022) – Genomic Applications to Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse Conservation: Distribution, Divergence, and Dietary Niche

Carly White (MS, 2022) – Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) Study of Large-Scale Wildfire Effects on Deer Diet Using DNA Metabarcoding

Tom Batter (PhD, 2020) – Development and Implementation of DNA-Based Survey Methods for Population Monitoring of Tule Elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) in the Interior Coast Ranges of Northern California

Carolyn Whitesell (PhD, 2019) – Movements of Lions and Other Carnivores in Relation to Domestic and Wild Prey in Northwestern Botswana

Cate Quinn (PhD, 2018) – Noninvasive Conservation Genetics of the Sierra Nevada Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) in California and Oregon

Jennifer Brazeal (PhD, 2018) – Utilization of Spatial Capture-Recapture and Non-Invasive Sampling Methods for Monitoring Ungulate Populations

Jocelyn Akins (PhD, 2017) – Connectivity and habitat use of remnant populations of the Washington Cascade fox (F2010-W2017) – National Science and Engineering Research Council fellow 2010-2011

Preston Alden (MS, 2017)  – Sage grouse predation and expanding red fox populations in the Great Basin  (F2013-W2017)

Yi-Hung Kuo (Forensics MS, 2017) – Application of Ancestry-informative SNP Markers to Estimate Genomic Introgression from European Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) into North American Red Foxes of the Eastern United States

Kris Kluepfel (MS, 2016) – Y chromosome markers for red foxes (2014-2016)

Kathleen Miles (MS, 2015) – Habitat use of the Sacramento Valley red fox (F2013-2015)

Mourad Gabriel (PhD, 2013) – Population Health of California Fishers (UC Davis, F2008-F2013)

Greta Wengert (PhD, 2013) – Ecology of Intraguild Predation on Fishers (Martes pennanti) in California (UC Davis, F2008-F2013)

Sini Reponen (MS, 2013) – Origins and Population Structure of Feral Dogs on Isabela Island, Galápagos (UC Davis, S2012-S2013)

MaryJo Olegario (MS, 2013) – Development of a short tandem repeat multiplex for Columbian black-tailed deer (UC Davis, S2013)

Donna Imes (MS, 2012) – Identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms within the mtDNA genome of the domestic dog to discriminate individuals with common HVI haplotypes (UC Davis, S2012)

Karen Converse (MS, 2012) – Genetic mating system and territory inheritance in the Sacramento Valley red fox (California State University, Sacramento, Dec 2012)

Sarah Brown (PhD, 2011) – The Use of Genetic Markers to Study the Human-Assisted Dispersal of California Black Bears and Old-World Indigenous Dogs (UC Davis, F2008-W2011)

Katherine Marquez (MS, 2011) – Connectivity of two urban coyote (Canis latrans) populations (Sacramento and San Francisco) to surrounding rural populations (California State University, Sacramento, May 2011)

Marcelle Moore (MS, 2009) – Impacts of encroaching non-native red foxes on the native Sacramento Valley red fox (California State University, Sacramento, Aug 2009)

Marika Ichiyanagi (MS, 2009) – The adaptive context of ultraviolet induced reflectance and fluorescence patterns within the order Rodentia (California State University, Sacramento, Dec 2009)

 

GRADUATE STUDENT COLLABORATORS

Chelsea Smith (PhD, UC Davis, Anthropology)

Adrienne Egge (University of New Orleans) – Origins and Landscape Genetics of the Eastern Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) (2010–2016)

Carrie Merson (Texas A & M) – Genetics of a hybrid zone between native and nonnative red foxes of the Rocky Mountains (2011–2016)

Logan Volkmann (Simon Fraser University, BC, Canada, MS Thesis collaborator) – Genetics of a hybrid zone between native and nonnative red foxes of the Rocky Mountains (2011–2014)

Brian Luke (California State University, Sacramento) – Population genetics of California ringtails (2008–2014)

William Gulsby (University of Georgia, PhD Dissertation collaborator) –Estimating coyote abundance through genetic fecal mark-recapture in response to predator management in two deer herds (2010–2014)

 

MECU POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLARS

Dr. Liz Kierepka (2018–2019)

Dr. Sarah Brown (2011–2014)

Dr. Karin Norén (2011–2015)

 

VISITING SCHOLARS

Hira Fatima, Department of Wildlife Management, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan (Fall 2018 – Spring 2019)

Professor Shannon Datwyler (Sabbatical Fall 2011, California State University, Sacramento)

Dr. Lorna Kennedy (Spring 2012, University of Manchester, Centre for Integrated Genomic Medical Research)