Lab Alumni

Graduate Students

Julia Sosin, MS 2019

MS Student 2016-2019

juliasosin@gmail.com

Julia began her masters in 2013 and completed it in July 2016, for which she studied changes in vegetation and fuels in plots established in jack pine forests 30 years ago.  Julia also did her undergraduate work in our lab between 2011 and 2013, where she studied jack pine regeneration on a project funded as an internship grant by the Lake States Fire Sciences Consortium.

Maggie Tucker, PhD 2019

ax6019@wayne.edu

PhD Student 2011-2019

Postdoc 2019

Currently Lab Coordinator, Wayne State University

Maggie completed her PhD in the lab in February 2019.  Her research focused on interactions between climate change, wildfire, and forest management in the jack pine forests and barrens in the northern Lower Peninsula.  Her postdoctoral work continued this line of work, examining changes in fuels with succession in jack pine forests and the potential impacts of those changes on fire risk and behavior.

Ben Spei, MS 2016

ben.spei@gmail.com

MS Student 2013-2016

Currently PhD student, University of Idaho

Ben joined our lab as a graduate student in Fall 2013.  While working on his BS at Wayne State in 2010-11, he completed research that examined the structure of a disjunct black spruce stand in a bog in southeastern Michigan.  His MS research investigated the impacts of emerald ash borer on blue ash mortality and regeneration in southeastern Michigan.

Bill Dodge, PhD 2016

dodgewil6@aol.com

PhD Student 2008-2016

Currently Research Technician, Wisconsin Dept. Natural Resources

Bill began as our lab tech in Summer 2007, and joined our lab in September 2008.  Bill’s work examined the distribution, diet, and movement of urban coyotes in metro Detroit.  His research was heavily featured in the Detroit Free Press, on Michigan Public Radio’s “Environmental Report”, and in multiple public presentations in the area.

Jacob Korte, MS 2012

yakkub9@hotmail.com

MS Student 2010-2012

Jacob was a member of our lab as both an undergrad and grad student.  As an undegrad, he completed an undergraduate research project examining spatial patterns of grey squirrel color phases in southeastern Michigan, and was a field assistant in 2008 and 2009.  His MS thesis focused on a landscape assessment of upland sandpiper habitat distribution across Michigan.

Jordan Sinclair, PhD 2012

jrdnsnclr@gmail.com

Jordan completed her PhD with Dr. Carl Freeman as her major advisor but also completing work in our lab as part of her dissertation.  Her research examined the effects of inter-annual variability in weather and drought on aspen growth, vigor, and decline in northern Minnesota and on the northern Front Range of Colorado.

Undergraduate Students

Jake Dombrowski, Lab Tech

ay8228@wayne.edu

Jake completed his BS degree in Biology fromWayne State in 2013 with heavy interest in ecology.  He spent two years as a lab tech in the aquatic ecology lab at Wayne State.  In our lab, he was part of the 2012 summer field crew that examined impacts on ash health of biocontrol agents introduced into forest stands attacked by the emerald ash borer.  He also assisted Julia Sosin on mapping jack pine regeneration following a wildfire in northern Lower Michigan.  He has since earned his MS in Biology at Florida Atlantic University.

Stephanie Brown, BS 2012

af4191@wayne.edu

Stephanie was a field and lab assistant in our lab for three years while she pursued her BS in Environmental Science.  She was a field assistant with Jordan Sinclair in 2011, sampling aspen growth and vigor on the Colorado Front Range.

Lisa Cross, BS 2012

az1745@wayne.edu

Lisa was a field and lab assistant in our lab for three years while she pursued her BS in Environmental Science.  She was a field assistant with Tori Schneider in 2010 and 2011, sampling amphibian communities in southeastern Michigan.

Jen Fugaban, BS 2011

jkfugaban@gmail.com

Jen completed a research project in our lab as a Wayne State McNair Scholar in 2011 while pursuing her degree in Environmental Science.  Her research examined the effects of canopy mortality caused by the emerald ash borer on leaf litter decomposiiton in emphemeral ponds in southeastern Michigan. She also assisted Tori Schneider with her amphibian field research in 2010.

Nick Morengo, BS 2011

dv5696@wayne.edu