Name: Idelle Cooper (cooperi@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Mittelbach
Degrees Held: B.A., Biology and Art, Grinnell College, 2001; Ph.D., Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, Indiana University, 2008
Research Statement: I am interested in studying the intersection between evolution and ecology in order to understand phenotypic variation.  My interests include the evolutionary consequences of mate choice and species recognition as well as viability selection in different habitats.  My current research focuses on the evolution color variation and mating behavior in the damselfly genera Megalagrion and Calopteryx.
Website:  https://www.msu.edu/~cooperi

Name: Steve Culman (sculman@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Snapp
Degrees Held: Ph.D., Soil Science, Cornell University, 2008; M.S., Soil Science, Cornell University, 2005; B.A., Biology, Thomas More College, 1999

Name: Tim Dickson (tdickson@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Gross
Degrees Held: B.A., Biology, St. Olaf College, 1999; Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 2006
Statement: I am a plant ecologist broadly interested in the importance of regional dispersal and colonization and local habitat conditions in controlling plant diversity.  Much of my work has focused on topics of restoration, invasive species, and effects of fertilization on colonization and plant diversity.  I am currently working on long-term fertilization and plant biodiversity datasets from the Kellogg Biological Station, and I am also working on how spatial variability of forage species distributions alters cattle grazing behavior.

 Name: Kyle Edwards (edwar466@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Klausmeier
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology / Religion & Humanities, Univ.  of Chicago, 2003; Ph.D., Population Biology, Univ. of California - Davis, 2010
Research Statement: I'm interested in a variety of fundamental questions in community ecology related to the maintenance of species diversity. What are the mechanisms that allow the coexistence of similar species? What are the trait tradeoffs that underlie these mechanisms? How strongly do different kinds of mechanisms tend to maintain diversity, and how do multiple mechanisms combine in particular communities to create the diversity we observe?

For my dissertation, I worked on these questions in a community of marine invertebrates, and now I'm working with Chris Klausmeier and Elena Litchman to address these and similar questions in phytoplankton. In general I like to combine models with data to better understand community dynamics, and I like to use the latest and greatest statistical methods, mostly in order to discover technical terms like 'sandwich estimator'.

Website:  https://sites.google.com/site/kyleedwardsresearch/home

Name: Ilia Gelfand (igelfand@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station/GLBRC
Lab: Robertson
Research Interests: Biogeochemistry, biosphere atmosphere interactions
Citations at Google Scholar:
http://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tDCTZBcAAAAJ
Degrees Held: M.S. 2002, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Ph.D. 2008, Weizmann Institute of Science
Statement: My current research focuses on the sustainability of biofuel production in agriculture. Currently, I’m trying to answer the question of how much carbon production of the “green” energy costs, or how “green” is green energy? The main attempt in my current research is to combine carbon budgets of the different biofuel producing systems.The carbon budget is simply mass balance of all carbon (CO2) used to produce the biofuel in a given agro-ecosystem. For this end we are measuring soil emissions of the main greenhouse gases, using automatic chambers together with measurement of biomass production and changes in soil organic carbon concentration.

My past research has looked at the influence of afforestation of semi-arid shrubland on the soil and ecosystem N cycling.  

Name: Neville Millar (millarn@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Phil Robertson (EPRI)
Research Interests: Ecosystem Sustainability, Greenhouse Gases, Carbon and Nitrogen Biogeochemistry
Research Location: KBS
Degrees Held: B.Sc. 1994. University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK; M.Sc. 1996. University of London, UK; Ph.D. 2002. Imperial College London, UK.
Statement: My research focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry, with the aim of utilizing various land management strategies to mitigate these emissions, reduce nutrient loss and promote ecosystem sustainability. My past work has looked at agroforestry practices on smallholder farms in East Africa, and the effects of elevated carbon dioxide (FACE) on crop yield and microbial communities in European grasslands.

Name: Ariane Peralta (peralta@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Honors Biology and Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003; M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006; Ph.D., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011

Name: Brian Petersen (briancp@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Environmental Science, Univ. of Idaho, 1999; M.S., Forest Resources and Master of Public Administration, Univ. of Washington, 2003; Ph.D., Environmental Studies, Univ. of California - Santa Cruz, 2010
Research Statement: My research centers on how public institutions and land managers can adapt to the challenges posed by climate change. Previous work focused on how forest systems and institutions have responded to the unprecedented forest dieback caused by beetle outbreaks. Currently, I am assessing climate change adaptation perceptions of natural resource professionals in the Great Lakes Region in a project in conjunction with the Michigan Nature Conservancy as well as eliciting expert opinion on how best to feed the world while maintaining environmental and social stability on a project with Professor Sieglinde Snapp. Lastly, colleagues at KBS and I are identifying climate change adaptation strategies for US based agriculture and assessing to what extent farmers believe those strategies are viable or appropriate.

Name: Sarah Placella (placella@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.A., Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 2003; Ph.D., Environmental Science, University of California - Berkeley, 2011
Statement:  Microorganisms control emissions of greenhouse gases, nutrient cycling, and degradation of toxins. While some scientists study these processes in cultured bacteria and others study ecosystem-level fluxes, my work links the activity of microorganisms in their natural environment to the ecosystem fluxes they produce. My current research investigates water availability as a driver of microbial dormancy in soils and microbial dormancy, in turn, as a regulator of carbon dioxide production. My postdoctoral research is the logical next step after my dissertation in which I studied microbial resuscitation following wetting of dry soil and the associated ecosystem fluxes (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ammonium, and nitrate).

Name: Rachel Prunier (prunier@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Lau
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Connecticut, 2010; M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Connecticut, 2005; B.A., Biology, Univ. of Virginia, 2003
Statement: For my post-doctoral work I am continuing my investigations of local adaptation and the extension of the patterns of local adaptation across species.  In particular, I am exploring the dynamics of a legume-rhizobia symbiosis in Desmodium marylandicum, a species that lives in both the sun and the shade for evidence of local adaptation to light environment.  I am also looking at the same question across species in the genus Desmodium, in which some species only live in the sun and others only in the shade to determine if the patterns that I find within D. marylandicum are repeated across the genus. 

You can learn more at my website:  http://www.msu.edu/~prunier

Name: Sara Syswerda (parrsar1@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: Ph.D., Crop and Soil Sciences and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior, Michigan State University, 2009; B.S., Biological Sciences, Cornell University
Research Statement: I am currently doing research in both nutrient cycling as well as science education. I am the coordinator for the KBS K-12 Partnership and the Math Science Partnership. I do research on how students think about science and how they learn science. I also do research at the KBS LTER site on nutrient cycling and ecosystem services from agricultural systems.

Website: www.kbs.msu.edu/education/k-12-partnership

Name: Casey TerHorst (terhors3@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Lau
Degrees Held: Ph.D., Biological Science, Florida State University, 2010; M.S., Biological Sciences, California State University-Northridge, 2004; B.A., History, University of Southern California, 1998
Research Statement: My research combines theoretical and experimental approaches that bridge the gap between evolutionary biology and community ecology.  I ask how evolution affects species interactions and diversity, and reciprocally how multiple species interactions in diverse communities affect trait evolution.  One focus of my research asks how evolution on ecological time scales affects the outcome of species interactions.  However, the outcomes of species interactions in diverse communities are complicated by multiple direct and indirect interactions between many species.  Consequently, I also examine the evolutionary importance of indirect species interactions to better understand how species evolve in a community context.

I have explored these questions in a number of different model communities, including California grasslands, pitcher plant inquiline communities, subtidal seagrass beds, sea urchins congeners, and marine fouling communities.

Website:  http://www.msu.edu/~terhors3 

Name: Robin Tinghitella (hibbsr@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Getty/GK-12
Degrees Held: B.S. in Biology, 2002, University of Portland; Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, 2008, University of California-Riverside
Statement: I am broadly interested in behavioral ecology and I study the evolutionary dynamics of sexual signals, focusing on both changes and loss of sexual signaling traits – things like frog calls and bird plumage that are typically used by males to attract and secure mates. I study these questions in Hawaiian field crickets and threespine sticklebacks. Most recently I am collaborating on a BEACON grant with Jenny Boughman, Tom Getty, and Chris Klausmeier in which we’re using both empirical studies and mathematical modeling to understand why and how male signals are lost despite the contention that female preferences should maintain them. Are changes in female preference required for the evolutionary loss of male signals? 

I am also the Project Manager for KBS’s GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project (http://kbsgk12project.kbs.msu.edu/). In this project, I work with KBS graduate students to improve science communication and teaching skills. Our project brings opportunities for authentic research experience to K-12 teachers and students in our partner districts through the BEST Research Network. 

Website: https://www.msu.edu/~hibbsr/Robin_Tinghitella/Welcome.html

Name: Dylan Weese (weese@msu.edu)
Department: Kellogg Biological Station
Lab: Lau
Degrees Held: B.S., Biological Sciences, University of Guelph, 2001; M.S., Zoology, University of Guelph, 2003; Ph.D., Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, 2010
Statement:  I study interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes. Much of my research investigates how variability in ecological interactions across a landscape influences patterns of natural selection and adaptive divergence. I am also interested in the diversity of ways evolution can influence ongoing ecological processes. For example, to what extent can an evolutionary response (e.g. adaptation to an environmental perturbation) influence ongoing ecological dynamics (e.g. population persistence)?

To study these eco-evolutionary dynamics I use direct measurements of natural selection in the wild, field and laboratory experiments, and correlational studies involving a diversity of aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Currently, I am studying how nitrogen deposition influences the evolution of the legume/rhizobia mutualism, and how the outcome of these evolutionary changes might influence community and ecosystem processes in successional communities.