Mentor Profiles
Diversity in research interests are needed to address the "Assessment and Sustainable Management of Ecosystem Services at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water".
The mentors listed below participate in EcoREU. Applicants can include preferred mentor or research topics in their statement of interest. We'll try our best to accommodate student preferences.
| Faculty Mentor | Research Topic |
| Michelle Evans-White | Studies freshwater ecosystem function and service responses to watershed agricultural, urban, and energy development. |
| Erica Westerman | Studies environmental effects on the abundance, development, and behavior of pollinators, including how habitat shade and vegetative cover affect pollinator development and vision. |
| Mitchell Pruitt | Studies movement ecology and space use in birds, including how urbanization and land use change affects raptor (bird of prey) distributions. |
| Shannon Spier | Studies ecosystem ecology and stream biogeochemistry, including aspects of stream ecosystem function and nutrient transformations in both human- and climate-impacted freshwater systems. |
| Natalie Clay | Studies how resource availability in forest ecosystems impacts aboveground and belowground forest invertebrates and their ecosystem functions |
| Caleb Roberts | Studies wildlife conservation and conservation outcomes at the landscape level, including bird and mammal community responses to habitat restoration, solar infrastructure management, and ecological impacts of invasive/nuisance species. |
| JD Willson | Studies effects of agriculture and energy development on amphibian and reptile population and community dynamics, including how solar power infrastructure affects habitat suitability for reptiles in restored prairies. |
| Wen Zhang | Studies environmental engineering, especially in drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. |
| Matt Bertucci |
Studies compost quality, including risks associated with compost use (e.g. herbicide carryover, weed-seed contamination), tomato trialing, container-grown blueberries, and operations related to the Naio Oz (autonomous weeder and seeder). |
| Neel Joshi |
Studies pollinator health, toxicology, and insect pest management of agricultural fruit production. |
The EcoREU program has faculty advisors from various departments on campus including Biological Sciences (BISC), Geosciences (GEOS), Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAEG), Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences (CSES), Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness (AGAB), Horticulture (HORT), and Chemical Engineering (CHEG) have become part of our REU program family over the last 10 years. This diversity of expertise is needed to address environmental sustainability and ecosystem management.