People

Current Members

We welcome prospective students interested in Conservation Biology, Agroecology, Urban Ecology, and Science Education. Students interested in working with us should email Dr. Kross directly with an explanation of their general areas of research interest. Note that Dr. Kross cannot sponsor student applicants to the Columbia PhD program, but can serve as a co-advisor on PhD projects if applicable. Students interested in the PhD program at Columbia should email one of the E3B faculty.

Ryan Bourbour

Ryan completed his undergraduate on barn owl diets (published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment) and then went on to join Josh Hull's lab as a graduate student at UC Davis. Ryan is currently working with us on a project to understand Barn Owl movements in agricultural landscapes to better understand potential pathways of rodenticide exposure. He tweets from @TalonDNA

Hannah Dancy

Hannah is a Master's Student at Columbia University, studying Tiger Olfactory Behavior at the Bronx Zoo with Dr. Patrick Thomas.

Jason Hagani

Jason is a Master's Student at Columbia University, studying human-wildlife conflict in New York, Montana, and California. His research combines ecological and social sciences and focuses on bears and mountain lions.

Michael Levin

Michael is a Master's Student at Columbia University, studying Ocelot occupancy on a wildlife-friendly ranch and in a nearby protected area in the Brazilian Pantanal.

Breanna Martinico
Breanna completed her undergraduate at UC Davis and was a co-author on our publication on barn owl diets in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Breanna is currently a PhD student in Josh Hull's lab at UC Davis working on understanding the freuency of rodenticide exposure on barn owls and red-tailed hawks in California.

Jared Meek (Columbia University)

Jared is a Master's student at Columbia in the Eaton Lab, studying phylogenetics of alpine plants.

Emily Phillips
Emily is a PhD student with Josh Hull at UC Davis. Her research focuses on rodenticide exposure in barn owl chicks in relation to their growth and prey resources.

Vijay Ramesh

Vijay is a PhD student at Columbia University, studying avin communities in the Western Ghat mountains of India.

Laura Plimpton

Laura is a Master's Student at Columbia University, studying feral cat diet and white-footed mouse movement ecology in Staten Island parks to better understand the role of predators in the Lyme's disease system in an urban environment. Laura is beginning a PhD at Columbia University in Fall 2020 with Maria Diuk-Wasser.

Jay Schoen

Jay is a PhD student at Columbia University, studying Jaguar distributions in Paraguay.

Rochelle Thomas

Rochelle is a Master's student at Columbia University, studying snow goose population dynamics in the Hudson Bay using historic aerial photographs.

Sarah Trabue

Sarah is a Master's student at Columbia University, studying bottlenose dolphin foraging behavior in response to vessel traffic in the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary and NY Bight.

Alumni

Jessica Schlarbaum (Fall 2017- Spring 2020)
Jess is now an Education Team Leader at the New Mexico Wildlife Center.
Hi there! My name is Jessica Schlarbaum and I am from Anaheim, California. I completed a B.S. at UC Davis in Wildlife Conservation Biology in 2016 and am currently an avian science graduate student at UC Davis. After volunteering at the California Raptor Center for four years, I developed a passion for raptor biology, which drove me to be a part of Dr. Hull’s lab. I am currently developing a nestbox project for American Kestrels in Yolo County and the surrounding areas. These little falcons won my heart quickly and I plan to study their population decline for the rest of my career. I am also interested in behavioral ecology, but more specifically how human interaction impacts natural behaviors in raptors. When I’m not spending my time at the California Raptor Center, I love birdwatching, hiking, and spending time with my cat and dog.

Quratulain (Annie) Ahmed (Spring 2017)

I am a recent graduate from the Environmental Studies program at CSU Sacramento. My research involved analyzing how birds utilize flood irrigation versus subsurface drip irrigation, and how farmers in turn benefit from having birds present on their farms. I currently work at the United States Geological Survey as an analyst in an organic matter research lab and as a field assistant. I plan on continuing to study Environmental Science in graduate school starting Fall 2018.

Robbie Justice & Minette Plaza (Winter 2015)

Minette and Robbie worked together as undergraduate interns in Winter quarter to collect data on weevil abundance and crop damage in alfalfa fields around Yolo county.

Jeffrey Haight (Winter 2014- Spring 2015)

Jeff is now a PhD student at Arizona State University. Check out his website here. Hi! I'm Jeffrey Haight. I'm a 4th year Environmental Science & Management major studying ecology at UC Davis. Though I currently live in Davis, I'm originally from El Sobrante and the nearby cities in the East Bay Area. Through the course of my upbringing and education, I've developed a strong yet very broad interest in conservation ecology. More specifically, I am mainly interested in studying how best to conserve and reconcile biologically-diverse ecosystems in urban and agricultural areas, where people are already present and dominate the system. Ultimately, it is my overarching goal to take my interest in conservation and apply it to the education of others as a teacher at a college or university. When I'm not busy studying ecology, I enjoy playing music, hiking, boating, and generally anything else that gets me outdoors.

Sara Remmes (Summer 2014-Winter 2015)

Sara has helped out on many of our field projects as well as our lab work to dissect barn owl pellets- here she is after discovering a particularly interesting animal inside one of the pellets.

Efraín Delgado (Winter-Spring 2014)

Hello! My name is Efraín Delgado and I'm a third year student at UC Davis studying Environmental Science and Management. I grew up Stockton, California which is a short one-hour drive from Davis. As of now, I'd say a lot of my interest is in the relationship between science (environmental and ecological specifically) and the way the wider population values or understands it. Growing up I have seen that science does not have much value within the latino community so the dynamics behind that has always been a topic of interest for me. I also think one of the more important steps in being able to do something about this issue is making myself literate in the world of science so that's why I do my best to increase my exposure to science through things like this research project! One random interest that I have is in astrophysics. I love learning about topics like Time's ability to "rip and repair itself" or the reasoning behind why the universe seems to be expanding as a result of the still precedent effects of the Big Bang.

Erin Barry (Spring 2014-Winter 2015)

Erin Erin had just dropped a sampling tray of weevils onto the floor in the lab. She chose this photo!

Mayra Pelagio (Winter-Spring 2014, Winter 2015)

Mayra is currently a Master's Student at San Jose State University. My name is Mayra Pelagio, I am originally from Guanajuato, Mexico and I have been living with my family in San Jose California for the past five years. I am a first year UC Davis student majoring in Environmental Science and Management. I enjoy learning about the environment and ways to prevent further environmental degradation. Some of my hobbies are crocheting, dancing and volunteering for nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross.

Justin Yuen (Winter-Spring 2014)

My name is Justin Yuen and I am from Orange, CA. I am a fourth year undergraduate at UC Davis and am majoring in Animal Biology. My career goal is to become a practicing veterinarian. I have keen interest in almost all animals and in my free time love to play musical instruments such as the drums and piano and sports such as basketball and tennis.

Maggie Chen (Winter-Spring 2014)

Maggie, a biology major planning to go into pharmacology, worked in my lab at UC Davis for one semester to get experience working in the field.

Sam Lei (Spring 2014)

Sam worked as a student assistant on our projects to quantify bird abundance in agricultural fields, and volunteered to help with analyzing barn owl pellets.