Student Spotlight

Elisabeth recently graduated from the dual-degree masters program through the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. Her research focused on the soft-shell clam industry, which is one of Maine’s most valuable commercial marine fisheries. More broadly, Elisabeth is interested in fisheries management, sustainable resource use, wildlife conservation, and ocean exploration. She is an experienced scientific diver and recently started training with her dog, Athena, to learn how to run agility courses. 

For her PhD work, Alissa has been analyzing mapped forest plots to determine what factors are most important in predicting conspecific negative density dependence in temperate forests. When she’s not coding in R, Alissa is trying to take steps to reduce harmful power dynamics and harassment in research labs.

Kelsey Fisher is a PhD student in the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University. Kelsey’s project, “Tracking Monarch Butterflies Through the Iowa Landscape Utilizing an Automated Radio Telemetry System,” researches how monarch butterflies are utilizing the fragmented landscape to support the establishment of biological guidelines for habitat restoration.

Melinda Martinez is a PhD student in the Forestry and Natural Resources Department at North Carolina State University. Currently her research focuses on detecting early warning signs of alternative stable states in coastal forested wetlands along Albemarle Pamlico Peninsula.

Dulcinea Groff is a PhD candidate in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences program at the University of Maine as well as a fellow of the IGERT: Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change program.