Student List

This is a nearly complete list of former students in the lab with information on their current jobs as far as they are currently known. Graduation dates and programs are included. "BIOL" means Biological Sciences, "ENVS" means the Environmental Studies Program. In recent years the name of the Environmental Studies Program has been changed to Environmental Sciences. If you have more information on former students, please email Dr. Brugam at rbrugam@siue.edu .

  1. Tim Currinder, M.S. in ENVS 1982. Tim is a scientific equipment salesman with Smith-Kline Beckman in Urbana, IL.
  2. Eric Reishus, M.S. in BIOL,1982 . Eric spent a while in the environmental division of Union Electric Company in St. Louis. He left that position to join his father as a Burger King franchiser in the Chicago suburbs.
  3. Bill Elzinga, M.S. in BIOL, 1983. Bill spent a long while with Environmental Science and Engineering in St. Louis. He is working at Environmental Science and Technology in St. Louis. He does part-time teaching in the SIUE Environmental Studies Program. Bill's M.S. thesis was published in the American Midland Naturalist
  4. Julie Herron Reitinger, M.S. in BIOL 1984. Julie worked for a long time as an environmental manager on the Weldon Spring Remedial Action Project in St.Charles, Co. Mo. She completed her certificate to teach secondary school biology. She is now the coordinator of the secondary education program at Webster University in St. Louis.
  5. Sumitra Chakraverty, M.S. in BIOL, 1982. Sumi is a housewife and mother in St. Louis. Her thesis work appeared in a paper in Hydrobiologia.  I recently learned that Sumi is working as a genetics lab tech at Washington University. 
  6. Sue Stumpf, M.S. in ENVS, 198?. Sue is the owner and manager of a cafe in Madison Wisconsin.
  7. Jim Lamkin, M.S. in ENVS, 1983. The last word from Jim was that he is in sales with McKesson Chemical
  8. Stuart Glover, M.S. in ENVS,1990 . Stuart is a laboratory technician in the Madison County Environmental Laboratory in Edwardsville. He is also an avid bird watcher. I met him recently at the Riverlands Environmental Area near Alton, IL. He was watching the large and varied community of ducks that overwinters there.
  9. Mike McElligott, M.S. in ENVS, 1984. Shortly after graduation, Mike left for California to be a wildlife manager on Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, CA.  Recently I checked out the Vandenberg website and found that Mike has moved on to work in Guam.
  10. Matt Geissert, M.S. in ENVS, 1987. Matt got a job as an industrial hygenist/inspector with OSHA after he graduated. He is now working with a county health department in California.
  11. Young Dong Choi, M.S. In ENVS, 1984. Young continued his studies after graduation in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at SUNY Syracuse. His Ph.D. thesis was on the reclamation of iron mine spoils. He is currently associate professor of Biology at Indiana University, Calumet. His current research is on the reclamation of urbanized landscapes in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Young was a major organizer for the INTECOL meeting in Korea.
  12. Mark Albert Carlson, M.S. in ENVS, 1982. Mark continued his education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va. obtaining a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering. He now lives in Corvallis, Oregon where he works for a consulting firm on contracts with the U.S. E.P.A.
  13. Kenneth Lynn, M.S. in BIOL. Kenny works in the environmental division of Amren UE (the former Union Electric Co.). He resides in Glen Carbon.
  14. Mark Lusk, M.S. in BIOL, 1983. Mark worked for a few years at the Weldon Spring Remedial Action Project in St. Charles Co., Mo. with Jacobs Engineering. He was transferred to the Jacobs home office in Idaho. His thesis work appeared in a special volume on acid lakes published in Hydrobiologia. Mark is now a senior scientist at the Waste Policy Institute in Idaho Falls. He works as a subcontractor for environmental restoration for the U.S. Department of Energy
  15. Anna Fisher Stevens. M.S. in BIOL, 1989. Anna got a job as a biochemist at Monsanto after graduating. Because of her additional background in Ecology, she has been working to transform the grounds of the Monsanto World Headquarters in Chesterfield, Mo. into a natural area. She and other Monsanto employees have created a fine natural area.
  16. Jose Vallarino, M.S. in ENVS, 1987. Jose is working for an environmental consulting firm in Boston, MA which monitors and controls lead in the workplace. His M.S. work appeared in a paper published in the Archiv fur Hydrobiologie.
  17. Yangdong Pan, M.S. in BIOL 1998. Pan completed his Ph.D. studies with Rex Lowe at Bowling Green University in Ohio. He studied the impact of fertilization on benthic diatoms. Pan did a post doc at the University of Louisville where he studied diatom communities in Kentucky and the impacts of agricultural chemicals on diatoms in the Everglades. . He has a number of publications including his M.S. work from SIUE. He is now Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. His M.S. thesis work just appeared in the Journal of Paleolimnology. (Abstract). Pan has his own web page called Pan's Page. The title of  Pan’s thesis is “Paleolimnology of Crystal Lake, McHenry County, Illinois”.
  18. Vasudev P. Anand, M.S. ENVS 1988. Anand finished his Ph.D. in toxicology at Rutgers. His thesis was on Acrylamide neurotoxicology. For a while he was Corporate Senior Toxicologist with Boston Scientific Corporation which is a medical service company in Boston Massachusetts. He has moved to North Carolina where he is in charge of the pre-clinical department of  Kowa Pharmaceuticals.
  19. Mike Dixon, M.S. in ENVS, 1988. Mike is employed at Washington University as a hazardous waste specialist. He resides in Edwardsville.
  20. Jamie Pervis, M.S. in ENVS, 1989. Jamie was employed at the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis. She moved on to a graduate program in telecommunications management at the University of Colorado. We published her M.S. thesis in the Proceedings of the Illinois Academy of Science.( Abstract)
  21. James Gastineau. M.S. in ENVS, 1990. James was working in Iowa for the state government. He has moved on to a consulting firm in Nebraska which has a large number of contracts with Iowa State government. He works on environmental problem associated with leaky underground storage tanks. His work was published in Hydrobiologia.
  22. Heidi Dunn, M.S. in Biol, 1991. Heidi is the president of her own environmental consulting firm in Elsberry, Mo. The firm specializes in the mitigation of the effects of human activities on endangered freshwater mussels.
  23. Eric Ratcliff, M.S. in ENVS, 1993. Eric is a field and laboratory technician with the Illinois Natural History Survey in Alton, IL. He does field sampling for water chemistry on the Mississippi River. He is Assistant Field Station Director at the National Great Rivers Research Center in Alton,   His work was published in Hydrobiologia. He married Amy Keele who also got her M.S. in ENVS.
  24. Trish Gannon Reilly, B.S. in BIOL. Trish works for the Missouri Department of Conservation
  25. Tim Reilly, B.S. in BIOL. Tim works for the Missouri Department of Conservation in their Clean Streams Program.
  26. Greg Labruyere, B.S. in BIOL. Greg works for a dental equipment manufacturer in St. Louis. Because of his superb knowledge of German, Greg manages the company's business with the Federal Republic of Germany.
  27. Jairus Winfrey, B.S. in BIOL. Jairus is a businessman in Memphis. TN.
  28. Licheng Tseng, MS. in ENVS, 1991. Licheng returned to Taiwan to become an environmental specialist employed by the Taipei city council.
  29. Tom Lerzcak, M. S in ENVS, 1991. Tom worked for the Illinois Natural History rivers lab in Havana, IL. He is now a natural areas specialist with the state of Illinois.
  30. Raghuram Govindacharyula, M.S. in ENVS, 1993. Raghu is a computer programmer with General Motors in Detroit.
  31. Mike Gerbitz, M.S. in Civil Engineering, 1992. Mike is a consultant in hydrology in Northern Wisconsin.
  32. Melody (Giorgi) Carter B.S. BIOL 1996. Melody did pollen analysis of cores from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for her senior assignment. The work was published in our American Midland Naturalist paper.  After graduation Melody worked for the Orange County environmental Protection Department in Florida.  She dropped out of the job market to raise children and is now looking to return to environmental work.
  33. Marcos de Jesus, B.S. in BIOL. 1994 Marcos left to become  a graduate student in fisheries at SIU-Carbondale. He is a District Inland Fisheries Supervisor for the state of Texas.
  34. Matt Malick, M.S. in BIOL, 1992. Matt is a Ph.D. student in Biology at Colorado State University. His interest is benthic invertebrates of streams. He spent a year in Alaska doing computer programming for the Park Service. He is head of water quality at the Curescate National Park in Colorado.
  35. Julie Watral, M.S. in ENVS, 1993. Julie was employed by the Missouri Department of Conservation inspecting hazardous waste sites. She lived for a time in Colorado and now has moved to Florida.
  36. P. Satesh Nair, M.S. in ENVS 1993. We don't know where Satesh is.
  37. Nancy Dickens, M.S. in ENVS 1993. Nancy is working for Maxim Technologies, an environmental consulting firm in St. Louis. She specializes in the clean up of hazardous wastes at U.S. government munitions plants.
  38. Kris Erickson, M.S. in ENVS 1994. Kris is working at Environmental Science and Engineering, a consulting firm in St. Louis.
  39. Alex Kropp, M.S. in ENVS 1994. Alex held a number of temporary positions with the federal government doing bird surveys in national parks and wildlife areas. He is now employed permanently by the state of Florida as a non-game wildlife specialist. He is the Breeding Bird Survey Coordinator for the State of Florida.
  40. Larry Kolesa, M.S. all but thesis in ENVS. Larry is a high school teacher at the San Pedro Magnet School for Marine Sciences, San Pedro, California. The data from his thesis was published in a paper in the Journal of Paleolimnology in October 1998.(Abstract)
  41. Steve Stumne, M.S. in ENVS, 1995. Steve is employed at the Weldon Spring Remedial Action Project.
  42. Neil McCrary, M.S. in BIOL, 1995. After graduation Neil moved to Texas where he worked at the University of Texas as an agricultural chemist. Neil is now working in tropical diseases at Incarnate Word University in San Antonio. He says that in the morning he works on Schistosomiasis and in the afternoons Leishmania. He has applied for graduate school at Texas A&M. He wants to do a Ph.D. based on his leishmania work.  The title of  Neil’s thesis is “Paleolimnology of Deep Lake, Lake, County, Illinois”. 
  43. Mark Gallyoun, B.S. in BIOL, Date Unknown. Mark is working in North Carolina for the Nature Conservancy.
  44. Carmen Sesvold, B.S. in BIOL, 1996. Carmen’s  work in our lab was published in the American Midland Naturalist, (Abstract). She is now a Ph.D. candidate at the Uniformed Services Health Sciences University in Washington, D.C.  She completed her M.S. there in 2003.  She reports: “I am doing well, I have recently passed my qualifying exam and am in a good lab with 2 great mentors. One is a neuroscientist specializing in synaptogenesis, the other a physiologist specializing in the lung. I enjoy being able to finally concentrate on my research and not having to split my attention on so many (class) subjects. I am characterizing the innervation of the lung and neuro-endocrine bodies using confocal microscopy. I consider it a lot of fun, but do not tell anyone they may work me even harder. I may branch to electronmicroscopy, we just have to see where the research leads us. It is funny, if I do go into e-microscopy, I will have run the gamut of imaging macro, micro to submicro (MRI-microscopy-electronmicroscopy).
  45. Beth Owen, 1996, M.S. in BIOL. Beth is a law student at St. Louis University. The title of Beth’s thesis is “Development of Glimmerglass Bog as Indicated by Pollen and Sediment Stratigraphies”.  Her thesis was published in August of  2004 in Holocene
  46. Stacy McCance, M.S. in ENVS, 1995. Stacy is a technician with an environmental consulting firm in the Chicago area. Data from her paper was published in our paper in Holocene (Abstract).  Stacy’s thesis title is: “Development of Kerr Lake Bog as Indicated by Pollen Stratigraphy”.
  47. Kathy McKeever, M.S. in ENVS, 1996. Kathy is a laboratory technician with the Illinois Natural History Survey in Alton, IL. Data from her thesis was published the October 1998 issue of Journal of Paleolimnology. (Abstract). The title of Kathy’s thesis is “A Diatom-Inferred Water Depth Reconstruction of an Upper Peninsula, Michigan, Lake.
  48. Eric Danielson, M.S. in ENVS, 1996. Eric works as a biologist with the Weldon Spring Remedial Action Project in St. Charles County, Mo. His thesis was a study of the amphibians of a number of uranium-contaminated sites near the Weldon Spring Weapons Plant.
  49. Rodney Almos, B.S. in Computer Science.1997 Rodney is a programmer for A.G. Edwards in St. Louis. His work was published in an American Midland Naturalist paper. (Abstract). Rodney expects to return to school to finish his M.S. in Environmental Sciences.
  50. Tracie Summerville, M.S. in ENVS, 1997.Tracie studied the distribution of copper, zinc and iron in a lake and a bog in the Sylvania Wilderness Area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Tracie is a high school chemistry teacher in Missouri. Tracie’s thesis title is: “Copper, Lead, and Iron Concentrations in Two Sediment Cores from the Sylvania Wilderness Area, Upper Peninsula, Michigan”.
  51. Becky Purcell B.S. Biology 1997. Becky sends the following summary: I was lab manager at Wash U School of Medicine in the department of Neurology working on the Christopher Reeve Paralysis project. I was part of the group that made it possible for Chris Reeve to have sensation in over 80% of his body and able to go without his ventilator for long periods of time. I think that is pretty big stuff. I spent a day with Alan Alda while he did one of his American Scientific Frontier shows focusing on our lab too. I now have quit working due to having Fibromyalgia and have become a full time quilter!!! What a change, huh? I see Sue often at the quilt stuff. I have moved back to my hometown of Salem, IL. My husband lives in China with his job, at least 2 more years, so I came back home. The house I grew up in was for sale so I bought it and here I am. I love being around family again even though they are a pain much of  the time.
  52. Tim Carron B.S. Biology 1997. Tim did pollen analysis in the lab. He completed some interesting work on the bogs of the Upper Peninsula. He is now working for Malinckrodt Chemical Company in St. Louis
  53. Rebecca Hood, Biology 1997 - Rebecca is using pollen to reconstruct the logging history of Helen Lake, near the Sylvania Wilderness Area, Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Rebecca
  54. Jennifer Pierce B.S. Biology - Jennifer was a member of the Undergraduate Research Academy. She used pollen and diatoms to reconstruct the impact of logging and cabin building on Moon Lake, near Land O'Lakes Wisconsin. Jennifer moved to New York in summer of 1997.
  55. Brian Tutterow, B.S. Biology 1998 - Brian used MAPINFO, a GIS program, to reconstruct presettlement forests and prairies in Jersey County, Illinois. He is digitizing the Government Land Office Surveys for the county. He is working for Zambrana Engineering in St. Louis.
  56. Jim Cox, M.S. in ENVS 1998. Jim completed a study of the birds of the SIUE Nature Trail.
  57. Mike Delmore. M.S. in ENVS 1998. Mike completed his final paper. He is employed with a firm that provides environmental insurance for corporations
  58. Jil Wright, Biology 1999- Jil is studied fossil diatom assemblages in Upper Peninsula lakes to reconstruct past lake water levels and climatic change. Jil now works at the Washington University Medical School.  The title of her thesis is “Diatom-Inferred Water Depth Reconstruction of Sun Lake, Upper Peninsula, Michigan”.
  59. Laura Luecking M.S. Biology and Geography 1999 - Laura used Government Land Office surveys from he early 1800's to reconstruct the original forests and prairies of Southwestern Illinois. Laura received "Honorable Mention" in the E.S. Deevey award competition at the Ecological Society of America Meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. during summer of 1997. The Deevey Award recognizes the best student papers in historical or paleoecology presented at the ESA Annual Meeting. Laura reconstructed pre-settlement forests of Macoupin Co., Illinois using the Government Land Office records. Laura is also working at Washington University Medical School.
  60. Jeff Kramer M.S. 1999, Biology - Jeff 's advisor was Dr. Mark Bolyard, but he grew his diatom cultures in the Brugam lab. Jeff worked on a project to genetically transform diatoms. The diatoms were obtained from Dave Czarnecki's diatom culture collection and from the University of Texas Algal Culture collection. Jeff is a researcher with Eli Lilly Company in Indianapolis.
  61. Katherine Brady,M.S. Environmental Sciences 1999. - Katherine studied Cougar (Tower) lake on campus. She found that phosphorus levels in the lake are controlled by recycling from the sediment. Katherine is working for a large Environmental Consulting firm in New Jersey. Her thesis title is: “Phosphorus and Silica Cycling in a Midwestern Hypereutrophic Reservoir”.
  62. Jake Morris B.S. 1999 - Jake did pollen analyses of short cores from High lake and from Sun Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is now working as an environmental consultant with Zambrana Engineering in St. Louis. He has returned to work on an M.S. in Environmental Sciences at SIUE.
  63. Todd Hubbard M.S. Environmental Sciences 2000. - Todd studied the benthic invertebrates in two watersheds from Iowa. One watershed was reclaimed to prairie. The other was heavily used for agriculture. Todd works for the University of Iowa as an environmental specialist.
  64. Tricia Deming M.S. Environmental Sciences 2000. - Tricia studied iron and manganese cycling in Cougar (Tower) Lake. She found that there was a lot less iron in the deep waters of the lake than we expected. Her thesis title was: “The Cycling of Iron, Manganese, and Sulfide in Cougar (Tower) Lake, Madison County, Illinois”.
  65. Capt. Robert Hauser M.S. Environmental Sciences 2000. - Capt. Hauser did a study of the lake effects climate of the Upper Peninsula. He found a clear statistically significant difference in winter precipitation along the shores of Lake Superior versus sites farther inland. He is a captain in the U.S. Air Force who specializes in meteorology.
  66. Amber McGee, B.S. Biology 2000. Amber did a study of humic acids in Schulz Bog near Rhinelander Wisconsin. She found that there was a lot more humic acid in the sediment core when there were also lots of Sphagnum spores.
  67. Maggie Coad. B.S. Biology 2000. Maggie did some preliminary pollen analysis of a core from Horseshoe Lake, Alexander County, Illinois. Her work showed that Taxodium pollen became abundant in the sediment core when European-American Pioneers colonized the site. The current lovely cypress forest in the lake did not exist before pioneer farmers arrived around 1815.
  68. Lynne Malone  2001.  Lynne did pollen analysis of  woodland hollows in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  She moved to northern Mississippi and is an accountant for a small auto racing firm.
  69. Mona Callis MS Biology  2001 Mona  did a  pollen analysis of a core from Schulz Bog near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The bog is located well away from the Upper Peninsula and the lake-effects snows of Lake Superior. Bog development there was very similar to other sites in the Upper Peninsula indicating that there is little impact of lake effects snows on bog development.  Mona is a regional manager for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA)
  70. Michelle Crenshaw  MS Biology 2001 Michelle did a thesis on the Paleolimnology of Horseshoe Lake in Alexander County, Illinois.  She showed that the lake was very different in pre-settlement times.  Her diatom analysis showed that the lake was shallow with lots of aquatic macrophytes.  The modern diatoms show a very eutrophic lake.  Michelle was at the University of Waterloo in Canada working on her Ph.D. with Roland Hall, however, she quit that position to pursue other interests.
  71. Chad Rieger MS  ENVS 2002.  Chad’s thesis was a phosphorus budget for Cougar (formerly Tower) Lake on the SIUE campus.  He found that the lake is losing far more phosphorus than in coming in through the campus sewage treatment plant.  The plant currently uses tertiary treatment to remove phosphorus.  We think the lake is still losing phosphorus that was deposited in the sediment before the plant came on line.  Chad has moved on and is working as an environmental scientist for the State of Montana The title of Chad’s thesis is “A Phosphorus Budget for Cougar Lake in Madison County, Illinois”.
  72. Sashi Vissa MS ENVS 2002.  Sashi is from Hyderabad in India.  Her thesis was on the effects of  cadmium and zinc on growth of Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda). She started her thesis work under Jim Houpis, but he left for another university.  Sashi is employed by an environmental consulting firm in Rockville, MD.   Her thesis title is: “Applicability of Pinus taeda in Phytoremediation of Cadmium and Zinc Contaminated Soils”.
  73. Erin Hammer BS Biology 2002.  Erin’s senior project was a study of  spheroidal carbonaceous particles in Horseshoe Lake, Madison County, IL.  She was a pioneer for our lab.  She developed the technique and showed that it was feasible.  We will be continuing with her work.
  74. Jennifer Martin, Biology.  Jennifer completed a study of  pollen in a short core from Horseshoe Lake, Madison County, IL.  Her work showed the location of the culture horizon.
  75. Adam Hayes. BS Biology 2002.  Adam did a study of Cougar Lake inorganic carbon.
  76. Brian Vermillion.  MS ENSC 2003.  Brian did a study of  sediment chemistry at Horseshoe Lake, Madison, County, Illinois.  He found that Pb, Zn and Cd increased in starting in the early 1900’s.  He concluded that these elements entered the lake from a Pb smelter located in the adjacent town.  The title of  Brian’s thesis is  “Major Element and Heavy Metal Concentrations in Horseshoe Lake, Madison Co., IL”.  Brian completed his Ph.D. in environmental science at the University of Illinois.  He studied mercury in Piasa Creek.  He developed some interesting new methods to measure mercury in the environment.
  77.  Indu Bala MS ENSC 2003.  Indu also worked with Dr. William Retzlaff.  She did a study of stable isotopes of  nitrogen in Horseshoe Lake sediment. She now lives in Iowa.
  78. Micah Miranda. BS Biology 2003.  Micah did a study of Cougar Lake temperature profiles.  He placed a series of Onset HOBO temperature loggers at depth intervals in the lake.  His purpose was to study the impact of the University’s heated water effluent on lake stratification and temperature budget.
  79. Kevin McKaye.  BS Biology 2004.  Kevin continued Erin Hammer’s study of  carbonaceous particles in Horseshoe Lake sediment.  He found that it is possible to measure carbon black using the same equipment used to measure stable isotopes of carbon.  His approach could greatly simplify the measurement of elemental carbon in lake sediment.
  80. Christina Blackford B.S. Biology 2005.  Christina did a senior assignment project on stable isotopes in sediment from Sylvania Wilderness lakes and hollows.  She found that δ15N values decreased in up core in High Lake.  Her results indicate that nitrogen from air pollution reaches this lake in a Wilderness area.
  81. Dave Novak M.S. Biology 2005.  Dave completed a study of the heat budget of Cougar lake that Micah Miranda started.  Dave used HOBO data loggers to record the temperature of the lake water at 2 hour intervals for 2 years.  He showed that the SIUE heating and air-conditioning plant contributes only small amounts of heat to the lake.  The title of  Dave’s thesis is “Heat Budget of Cougar Lake, Madison County, Illinois”.  Click for a pdf of Dave’s thesis. Dave earned a second MS in Environmental Engineering.  He is now an inspector for OSHA.
  82. Shelly Ottensmeier MS ENSC 2005.  Shelly completed a study of stable isotopes of  seston in Cougar Lake.  She found that δ15N  increased over the summer as a result of  sewage inputs from the campus.  Dr. Retzlaff was co-advisor.  Shelly works in TekLab, a local environmental firm.  Click for a pdf of Shelly’s thesis.
  83. Natalie Schneider BS BIOL 2005.  Natalie did a study of condition factors in Cougar Lake fishes.  Click for a pdf of Natalie’s senior assignment presentation in the Ecology, Evolution and Environment Colloquium. 
  84. Paul Boudreaux BS BIOL 2006.  Paul did an experimental study re-examining the classical studies of  Clifford Mortimer on chemical changes in the anaerobic hypolimnia of eutrophic lakes.  Paul wants to attend optometry school in St. Louis.  Click for a  pdf of Paul’s Senior Assignment final poster
  85. Jay Munyon BS BIOL 2006: Jay did a study of stable isotopes of  carbon and nitrogen in Cougar Lake food chains. Jay’s work was supported by the SIUE Undergraduate Research Academy and by the Illinois EPA’s Lake Education Assistance Program (LEAP Grants).  He presented the results at the 2006 Ecological Society of  America Meeting in Memphis, TN.  Click for pdfs of Jay’s poster (pdf1, pdf2).  Jay was graduate student with Evelyn Gaiser at Florida International University.  He is studied periphyton in the Everglades. He has returned to Illinois and is looking for a teaching job.
  86. Nick Grant BS BIOL 2006:  Nick came to SIUE with a strong interest in aquatic entomology.  He did a study of benthic invertebrates in Cougar Lake.  He found a strong decline in diversity in samples taken from the anaerobic hypolimnion of the lake. His results were similar to other eutrophic lakes like Linsley Pond, CT and Lake Mendota, WI. Nick is currently employed by the U.S. Bureau of  Mines inspecting surface coal mines in Illinois. He is also a member of the National Guard who has spent a couple of tours in Afghanistan. Click for a pdf of Nick’s final presentation in the Ecology Evolution and Environment Colloquium.
  87. Steve Ryan BS BIOL 2006.  Steve did a study of   stable isotopes in floodplain vegetation along the Illinois River.  Click for a copy of his Senior Assignment poster  (pdf
    88. )
  88. Brandon James BS BIOL 2006.  Brandon did his senior assignment project on the “200 lb squirrel project”. Our collaborator was Dr. Marian Smith from the SIUE Biology department.  We planted seeds of various species of Illinois oaks and walnuts around the SIUE campus.  Each seed was marked with a numbered flag.  Our purpose was to test Bazzaz’s hypothesis that reforestation in Illinois is limited by the ability of large seeded species to disperse to open sites.  Brandon examined field and laboratory germination and survival rates using the tetrazolium method.  Brandon presented his work at the 2006 Illinois State Academy of Sciences Meeting in Chicago.  Click for a copy of his ISAS poster (pdf).  Brandon is a Ph.D. student in plant physiology at the University of Illinois Champaign.
  89. Beth Martin BS BIOL 2007.  Beth did her Ecology Colloquium talk on nitrate in Cougar Lake.  Her question was whether denitrification in deep eutrophic lakes removes nitrate from water.  She took weekly samples at meter depth intervals from the lake and analysed them for nitrate using a nitrate electrode.  Click for handouts of her talk (pdf).  Beth moved to Florida and started a dog grooming business.
  90. Phil Williams BS MS BIOL. 2009 Phil completed his senior assignment project in the lab.  He did a study of stable isotopes in the sediment of Cougar Lake.  He found that the recent invasion of the lake by Myriophyllum  increased the δ13C value of shallow water sediment.  Live Myriophyllum  showed elevated 13C levels because the large beds of macrophytes are extremely carbon-limited.  A portion of the carbon fixed by the macrophytes is incorporated into the lake sediment.  Phil presented his results at the Illinois State Academy of Sciences meeting in Springfield.  Click for a copy of his poster (pdf). Phil completed his MS in Biology his thesis title is “Reconstruction of the History of Cougar Lake, a small eutrophic reservoir in southern Illinois”.
  91. Matt Wilson BS Biol 2009.  Matt completed his BS doing research on nitrogen in Cougar Lake.  He also worked on sediment cores from the Mound House and Koster archaeological sites.  Matt has returned for his MS.  He has presented his undergraduate work at the Illinois State Academy of Sciences.
  92. Brian Lepping BS Biol 2009.  Brian completed his senior assignment with a study of  stable isotopes of  carbon and nitrogen in gizzard shad from Cougar Lake
  93. Chris Martyn BS 2009.  Chris’ senior assignment project was a continuation of our studies on tree seedling survival on the SIUE campus.
  94. Laylonda Maines MS 2009.  Laylonda completed her thesis which was a paleolimnological study of  lead (Pb) pollution in Horseshoe Lake, Madison County, IL.  She found that she could use stable isotopes of lead to track sources to the sediment.  Horseshoe Lake has a legacy of  lead pollution from a large smelter located in Granite City, IL.  The title of Laylonda’s thesis is “Lead contamination of Horseshoe Lake, Madison County, IL by French Colonial Smelters”. Laylonda’s thesis was one source of data for our most recent paper in the Journal of Paleolimnology (Brugam et al. 2012)
  95. Adam Campo BS Biol 2010. Adam did a study of  oak regeneration at his family’s farm in Monroe County, Illinois
  96. Jake Fink BS Biol 2010. Jake did a study of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in cores from his grandfather’s farm near Beardstown, IL.  He found almost no impact of  low N-15 fertilizers on sediment isotopic composition.
  97. Megan McAfee BS Biol 2010. Megan did a joint study with Sarah Marrs on stable isotopes of  nitrogen and carbon in cores from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They were trying to see whether air pollution was changing the isotopic composition of sediment in very low nutrient lakes.
  98. Sarah Marrs BS Biol 2010. Worked with Megan McAfee on the Upper Peninsula lakes.
  99. Andy Klumpp BS Biol 2011. Andy did a study of the locust groves on the campus.

100.              Cory Anderson BS Biol 2012. Cory and Shawn Worthen did a study of turtles in Cougar Lake.  They captured turtles in nets, weighed them, aged them and returned them to the lake.  They constructed a survivorship curve for the turtles.  They found mostly painted turtles and red-eared sliders.  The turtles show a Deevey type II survivorship curve.  The click on the link to see their poster (poster). We are grateful to Dr. Beth Walton for her help and advice on this project.

101.              Shawn Worthen BS Biol 2012. Shawn worked with Cory Anderson on the turtle project.

102.              Brandon Schneider MS Biol 2012. Brandon is employed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  His thesis was a study of fish colonization of chevron dikes in the Mississippi River by St. Louis.  He found that the dikes greatly increased the biodiversity of fishes at their location.  Brandon and I thank his committee: Peter Minchin, Paul Brunkow and Tom Keevin. Tom was the person at the USACE that set Brandon on the project.  Brandon is continuing work with the Corps working on remediation of radioactive sites.