Graduate Student and Post Doctoral Alumni
Graduate Students
Monica Cooper
PhD Dissertation (2026): The Structure, Demography, and Viability of an Archipelagic Carnivore
Rudi Boekschoten
M.S Thesis (2026): Context dependent effects of large carnivores on mesocarnivores: pumas and foxes in Patagonia
Currently a Gentleman Farmer
Rebecca Chandross
M.S Thesis (2026): Snowshoe hare cycles at their southern range boundary: cyclic erosion and island persistence
Currently a Scientist I at Thermofisher Scientific
Shotaro Shiratsuru
PhD Dissertation (2025): Understanding the mechanisms and consequences of predator-prey interactions: the traits of prey and predators interact with winter conditions to mediate the food-safety trade-off
Currently a Postdoc at Trinity College Dublin
Spencer Keyser
PhD Dissertation (2024): Ecology and conservation in seasonal environments
Currently a Postdoc at Cornell University
Emma Blackdeer
M.S. Thesis (2024): Mechanisms for digestion of a varied diet in a group of forest carnivores
Corbin Kuntze
PhD Dissertation (2024): The effects of spatial heterogeneity on predators, prey, and their interactions
Currently a Postdoc in the Pauli Lab
Gonzalo Barceló
Postdoctoral Fellow (2025)
PhD Dissertation (2024):The trans-hemispherical role of an apex predator: Foraging, energetic and behavioral ecology of Puma concolor
Currently a Postdoc in Chile with ANID (National Association of Research and Development)
Mauriel Rodriguez Curras
PhD Dissertation (2024): Carnivore community structure in a changing world
M.S. Thesis (2019) : Humans affect every major niche axis in a community of competing carnivores
Currently a Postdoc at University of California- Berkeley
Matt Smith
Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)
PhD Dissertation (2023) : Mechanisms of species recovery for a forest carnivore in a changing landscape
Aldo Leopold Scholar
Currently a Postdoc at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Lydia Druin
M.S. Thesis (2023): Quantifying connectivity: a recovery network of American martens (Martes americana) in the upper Great Lakes region
Currently a Scientist-in-Parks Ecology Assistant with the National Park Service Greater Yellowstone Network
Sam Jolly
M.S. Thesis (2023): Spatiotemporal analysis of small mammal populations: implications for American marten recovery
Currently a biologist with the U.S. Forest Service
Burcu Lacin Alas
M.S. Thesis (2022): The repatriation of wolves to Isle Royale alter the foraging of mesocarnivores
Penelope Murphy
M.S. Thesis (2022): Survival of ruffed grouse color morphs in seasonally snow-covered forests
Currently a natural resources scientist at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Malena Candino
M.S. Thesis (2022): Moving through a heterogeneous landscape: Migration and habitat selection of a guanaco population in a seasonal environment
Currently a science communications research specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Taylor Peltier
M.S. Thesis (2022): Phenotypic variation in the molt characteristics of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus)
Currently a Ph.D. student at Utah State University
Kimberly Thompson
PhD Dissertation (2021): The Abiotic Characteristics and Ecological Consequences of a Deteriorating Subnivium
Currently a Postdoc at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Evan Wilson
PhD Dissertation (2021): Mechanisms of Community Disassembly Along a Southern Range Boundary
Currently a Postdoc at Michigan State University
Brad Smith
M.S. Thesis (2021): Carnivore resource use and competition under rapid environmental change: the diet of fishers (Pekania pennanti) and martens (Martes caurina) in the Sierra Nevada mountains during drought and tree mortality
Currently a program manager at U.S. Forest Service-Northern Region
Tiffany Bougie
M.S. Thesis (2020): Demography Informed Species Recovery: Quantifying Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) vital rates, population viability, and effects of management actions in Wisconsin
Currently a wildlife biologist with Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Ally Scott
M.S. Thesis (2020): Small Mammal Communities in Changing Environments
Currently the Deputy Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison at the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center
Julian Padro
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020): Andean condor conservation genetics.
Currently a Research Assistant at CONICET in Argentina
Paula Perrig
PhD Dissertation (2019): Apex scavengers in a changing world: historical demography and future conservation of Andean condors
M.S. Thesis (2015): Predation subsidizes an obligate scavenger in the Andes
Currently a Postdoc at CONICET in Argentina
Marie Marten
M.S. Thesis (2019): Exploring the energetic and spatial ecology of Pacific martens in Lassen National Forest, CA.
Annie Alexander Award
Currently a Faculty Research Assistant at Oregon State University Institute for Natural Resources
Julia Poje
M.S. Thesis (2019): Impacts of Environmental Conditions on Prairie Dog Fleas: Implications for Sylvatic Plague
Phil Manlick
Ph.D. Dissertation (2019): Landscape-mediated niche dynamics in North American Carnivores
Aldo Leopold Scholar
M.S. Thesis (2015): Mechanisms of delayed recovery in reintroduced American martens
Currently a research wildlife ecologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station
Megan Fitzpatrick
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018)
Currently a biologist with Minnesota DNR
Mario Garces Restrepo
Ph.D. Dissertation (2018): Reproductive Ecology and Conservation of Sloths in Costa Rica
Currently the technical director of Biota at Proinsa LTDA in Colombia
Kristina Black
M.S. Thesis (2018): The Great Lakes region is a melting pot for vicariant red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations through natural expansion and fur-farm translocations
Currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin
Jen Grauer
M.S. Thesis (2017): Demography and genetics of reintroduced American martens
Currently a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University
Becky Kirby
Ph.D. Dissertation (2016):Foraging Ecology and aging of black bears in human-modified landscapes
Currently a regional wildlife ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service-Southwestern Region
Emily Fountain
Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently a Research Associate at the University of Wisconsin
Wynne Moss
M.S. Thesis (2015): Mountain lion foraging in the Colorado Front Range
FWE Outstanding Thesis
Currently a Postdoc at Conservation Science Partners
Sean Sultaire
M.S. Thesis (2014): Climate change and snowshoe hares
Currently a Postdoc at University of Montana
John Pokallus
M.S. Thesis (2014): Population dynamics of a northern-adapted mammal in response to climate change and an altered predator community
Currently a game warden for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Jorge Mendoza
M.S. Thesis (2014): Resource use by two-and three-toed sloths differ in a shade-grown agro-ecosystem.
Currently the STEM Exploration and Engagement Scholars Program Manager at Ohio State University
Undergraduate Alumni (Senior Thesis)
Phoenix Innis
Senior thesis (2024): Top-down and bottom-up processes mediate the diet of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) on Isle Royale in the aftermath of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) reintroduction
Alivia Arredondo
Senior thesis (2024): Whitebark Pine: a surprisingly important dietary item to American martens
Isabel Field
Senior thesis (2024): Anthropogenic food consumption influences the nutritional condition and reproductive rates of hunter-harvested black bears in Wisconsin
Sabrina Zhao
Senior thesis (2023): The introduction of an exotic carnivore: stone martens in Wisconsin
Betty Chu
Senior thesis (2023): Mating strategies of the porcupine community based on parentage
Grace Nugent
Senior thesis (2022): Distribution and sympatry of snowshoe hares and cottontail rabbits in Wisconsin
Clare Knife
Senior thesis (2021): Genetic structure of the Moquah Barrens sharp-tailed grouse translocation
Michaela Rudolf
Senior thesis (2021): Consequences of variable winter conditions on nutritional condition and mortality of porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) in central Wisconsin
Kate Silverthorne
Senior Thesis (2019): Niche Partitioning in Communities Featuring Different Avian Scavenger Richness
Aleana Savage
Senior Thesis (2018): Assessing the Colonization History of the Isle Royale Red Squirrel: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus regalis
Shelby Petersen
Senior Thesis (2017): Eltonian niche conservatism of martens across the Pacific Northwest
Rachel Larson
Senior Thesis (2017): The genetic structure of American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in the southern Rocky Mountains
Carissa Freeh
Senior Thesis (2015): Diet driven decline of a generalist forest carnivore?
Jenna Carlson
Senior Honors Thesis (2014): Potential role of prey in the recovery of American martens to Wisconsin
Holstrom Environmental Scholarship
Sonia Petty
Senior Thesis (2014): The effects of climate change and land cover type on the subnivium, a seasonal refuge beneath the snow.
Reid Bryson Scholarship
Katrina Brickner
Senior Honors Thesis (2013): Exploring black-footed ferret diet specialization in Shirley Basin, Wyoming.