PhD Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Jason Stockwell
adebukola.aborigho@uvm.edu
Research focus: Adebukola is investigating the interactive effect of multiple stressors such as salts, climate warming, and nutrients, on zooplankton diversity, abundance, and community composition in temperate lakes using a combination of mesocosm experiments and field surveys.

MS Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Mindy Morales-Williams
maria.alfaro@uvm.edu
Research focus: Maria is a freshwater ecology Master's student in Mindy Morales-Williams' lab and is interested in how biogeochemical processes respond to anthropogenic influences. Maria's research implements experimental microcosms, assay techniques, and high-frequency buoy data to assess nutrient limitation and nitrogen cycling within Lake Carmi, which has been artificially aerated since 2018.

PhD in Natural Resources
Advisor: Jason Stockwell
rosaura.chapina@uvm.edu
Research focus: Rosie’s research primarily focuses on behavioral ecology specifically on the migration behavior of Mysis diluviana, a small shrimp like crustacean that plays a vital role in lake food webs. Mysis undergo a diel vertical migration (DVM), whereby Mysis migrate up to the water column at night and descend to the bottom of the lake as sunrise approaches. Recent studies, however, show that Mysis exhibit partial diel vertical migration (pDVM), where a subset of the population remains at the bottom at night. Drivers of pDVM remain unknown. Rosie is currently analyzing Mysis migration patterns in Lake Ontario and evaluating the drivers behind Mysis pDVM.

PhD Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Mindy Morales-Williams
rachel.cray@uvm.edu
Research focus: Rachel is studying phytoplankton ecology and ecosystem function. Her current interests focus on how small-scale, biochemical factors enact large-scale, dynamic changes in aquatic systems.

PhD in Natural Resources
Advisor: Jason Stockwell
natalie.flores@uvm.edu
Research focus: Natalie’s research interests include aquatic ecology, environmental toxicology, and understanding how chemical substances affect organisms and ecosystems. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on impacts of cyanobacterial blooms on different parts of the environment, including water, fish, and air, using existing data in a global analysis and new data from field sampling. Information on increased presence and effects of cyanobacteria in multiple areas of the environment will help identify and characterize potential routes of human exposure to cyanobacteria toxins. Her work will also broaden the knowledge on nutritional considerations of cyanobacteria blooms on fish, ecological impacts of harmful cyanobacteria, and environmental patterns in cyanobacteria and their bioactive chemical products.

PhD Student in Biology
Advisor: Ellen Marsden
matthew.futia@uvm.edu
Research focus: Matt’s research interests lie in conservation and restoration of native fishes. Currently, he is studying the resource use of naturally produced (wild) and stocked adult lake trout in Lake Champlain. Wild lake trout have only recently returned to Lake Champlain, and knowledge of the wild adults is limited. Therefore, Matt is using acoustic telemetry and gastric lavage to determine the year-round three-dimensional habitat use and diet of wild and stocked lake trout.

MS Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Kris Stepenuck
marisa.immordino@uvm.edu
 

PhD in Natural Resources
Advisors: Ellen Marsden & Jason Stockwell
amelia.mcreynolds@uvm.edu
Research focus: Mia’s research interests include ecosystem ecology and fish population dynamics in ecosystems around the Great Lakes. She is currently using long-term historical datasets to quantify variation in forage fish communities of Lake Champlain in the context of environmental change, non-native species introductions and piscivorous fish populations.

PhD in Natural Resources
Advisor: Breck Bowden
abigail.rec@uvm.edu
Research focus: Abigail is interested in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in Arctic stream systems and how permafrost thaw due to climate change is projected to alter the nutrient profile of Arctic streams. Among Earth’s largest nutrient sinks, permafrost is predicted to rapidly introduce solutes to surface water networks as it thaws, which can cause dramatic changes to ecosystem structure and function especially in the Arctic where streams are highly nutrient-limited. Abigail’s research will focus on elucidating in-stream mechanisms for inorganic and organic nutrient processing to understand how the interacting subsystems of Arctic streams respond to the introduction of nutrients.
 

Advisor: Mindy Morales-Williams
edouard.rumega@uvm.edu

MS Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Ellen Marsden
shelby.scarfo@uvm.edu
 

PhD Student in Biology
Advisor: Jason Stockwell
anna.schmidt@uvm.edu
Research focus: Anna's research interests include aquatic food web ecology, migration behavior of the lower food web, invasive species impacts, Mysis ecology, and the impacts of environmental change on aquatic ecosystems.

PhD Student in Biology
Advisor: Jason Stockwell
Starts June 2024

PhD Student in Natural Resources
Advisor: Mindy Morales-Williams
katelynn.warner@uvm.edu
Research focus: Kate graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in Biology and researched cyanobacterial blooms in response to partial lake mixing and internal phosphorus loading. Her current research interests include understanding the main causes of cyanobacterial blooms in Vermont's inland lakes and what variables affect the production of cyanotoxins during these summer blooms